Magic of the Keyblade
by DaniPotterLovesGod
Summary: AU. Ariana Diggory never really wanted adventure. So, what is she to do when her world is destroyed, and she's thrust into a life of fighting? And why did she become the second Keyblade Bearer? No Sora/OC.
1. Dive

**I am back with yet another story! Okay, this one happens three years after the epilogue in **_**Deathly Hallows**_** and during Kingdom Hearts I. Enjoy!**

**A couple of things before you start reading this, though: This is the sequel series to my Harry Potter one, _Unexpected_. All you need to know about it is that in that series, Harry has a twin sister named Danielle, who lived in the future. She's changed several things, intentionally and otherwise. She's now married to Cedric Diggory and has three children.**

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Chapter 1: Dive

[Cue music: Destati by Backer Ruth, Kingdom Hearts Destiny]

What would you call it? I had no idea. Was I floating through air or water? I may never know. Darkness was all around me. How long was I floating through the inky blackness? It could have been seconds, days, or even years.

My feet settled on firm ground. I opened my eyes and looked around. Suddenly, white birds, like doves, swirled around me and flew out of sight. I looked down and gaped. I was standing on a platform that looked like a pink stained-glass window with a young woman with blond hair and a purple dress depicted on it. She held a red rose, and her eyes were closed, as if she were asleep. Thorns decorated the outer rim of the window-platform.

I stared at the platform for a few moments in wonder. Suddenly, three gray pedestals appeared. The one directly in front of me held a green staff topped with a bright blue circle and two, smaller circles sticking out of opposite sides, close to the top. To my right was a black shield with the same three circles printed on it in red. There were red markings on the outer part of it. On the pedestal to my left was a sword with a blue and yellow hilt with the three circles on it. The blade was white.

A voice echoed in my head: _A certain power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength._

After the voice faded, I walked to the pedestal with the black shield. I picked it up. The voice whispered: _The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this what you choose?_

I nodded. The shield turned into a ball of light on my hand and phased into it.

_Your path is set. Now what will you give up in exchange?_

I walked to the sword and picked it up. _The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?_

I nodded. The sword turned into a ball of light as well and vanished. _You've chosen the path of a guardian. You've given up the power of the warrior. Is this the form you choose?_ Again, I nodded.

The gray pedestals started to fall apart. What was going on? The platform I was standing on started to crumble, pieces of the pink glass falling into oblivion. I backed away until I could no more. I fell, and the shards of pink glass vanished.

I saw another stained-glass window appear in the darkness. This one was pink and had hearts all over it. I righted myself so that I was feet first and landed softly on the platform.

A ball of light appeared in my hand. The black shield I had picked up before appeared. I grasped it firmly.

Suddenly, dark creatures rose up from the platform. They were small and black with bug-like antennae and yellow, pupil-less eyes. It didn't look like they had mouths.

I grasped the black shield. As one bug jumped at me, I blocked it and bashed it away. I rammed into another one, which mad it disappear in black mist. The third bug slashed at me with its claws while my back was turned to it. I whacked it with the shield, the bug turning into black mist. It left behind a yellow and blue cube and a green ball. I picked them both up and pressed the ball to my injury. It instantly alleviated the pain.

The last bug lunged at me. I knocked it aside and rammed into it. It disappeared as well.

Darkness spread on the platform. I looked down and saw nothing except for the inky blackness and some swirling dark purple. The mixture sucked me in.

The next thing I knew, I was on my back. I sat up and looked around. I was on yet another platform. This one was green and had a young woman with short, black hair on it and a yellow and blue dress with a high, white collar. She seemed to be sleeping, as well. I stood up. This platform had a set of gray double-doors. I walked to the doors. As I looked at them, they opened, bright, white light behind them. How was that possible?

The light spread everywhere and engulfed me. I opened my eyes. This was a place I knew well: It was the Great Hall at Hogwarts. At one table, the Slytherin one, I saw my best friend, Angelique Malfoy, sitting there. At the Ravenclaw table, my brother and sister, Orion and Hazel (twins) sat there, side by side.

I walked to Angelique, her light blue eyes mysteriously blank.

"What's most important to you?" she asked.

"My friends," I answered.

"Is friendship really that important?"

I walked to Hazel and Orion. Their gray eyes were blank, too.

"What are you afraid of?" Orion asked.

"Of losing the people important to me," I answered.

"Is that really scary?"

I looked at Hazel.

"What do you want out of life?" Hazel asked.

"To be the best person I can be," I answered.

"Really?"

The next thing I knew, I was standing on yet another stained-glass platform, this one blue and with a woman with a blue dress and blonde hair on it. Her eyes were closed, too. What was going on? This one was much larger than the others.

Eight black bugs suddenly appeared around me. I pulled out my shield and waited for them to come near. Once they did, I spun around in a circle, the black shield in front of me. They all got batted a way. One even dissipated into black mist, leaving another yellow and blue cube. I then ran into two more bugs and made them disappear as well.

I spun around in another circle, getting rid of the last five. I picked up the cubes and spheres, which I pressed against my wounds.

Stairs appeared in flashes of light. They looked like little stained-glass windows, except not as elaborate like the one I was standing on.

I could see the top of a great pillar at the end of those stairs. The pillar had stained-glass windows like those in a church. I ran up the stairs and to the top of the pillar.

At the top of this one, it had a circular stained-glass platform that was yellow. It depicted a young woman in a yellow dress with long brown hair. She seemed to be sleeping. Something must have been wrong. I didn't know what it was, but something was wrong with these images.

I looked behind me and saw a long, dark shadow. There wasn't enough light to make that long or dark of a shadow. Suddenly, it rose up off the floor and gained form. It got larger. While it was doing that, I backed away.

My shadow turned into a giant, navy blue being with something like tentacles growing out of its head. Its eyes were yellow and seemed to glow. In the middle of its chest was a large, heart-shaped hole.

I grasped my shield tightly. The monster balled up its right hand and slammed it into the ground. I jumped up as a swirling vortex of black and purple appeared. I rammed its fist several times before it had a chance to pick it up. Once it did, I tried something. Since its hand was too high up for me, I threw my shield at its hand and whacked it. I did this several more times.

The monster got on its knees. The heart-shaped hole started to glow with purple energy. This was my chance to hit its hand! I bashed at it with my shield until its heart-shaped hole started to glow with white light.

The monster stumbled. My shield disappeared in ball of light. No! The monster pounded its fist. I jumped away and landed on my back. Another black and purple hole opened beneath me. I struggled to get out, but to no avail.

[End music]

**A/N – So, tell me what you think!**


	2. A Simple Family Visit

**Here is the second chapter!**

**I own nothing except for my own O.C.s!**

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Chapter Two: A Simple Family Visit

I opened my eyes. I was in my room. My neck was stiff: I had fallen asleep at the desk in my room while doing my summer homework. The parchment was scattered everywhere, so I picked it up. I finger-combed my messy brown hair out of my green eyes.

"Ariana!" I heard my mother call. "Time to go!"

"Okay, Mum!"

I walked downstairs to where my family sat in the living room: My parents, Cedric and Danielle Diggory and my siblings, Orion and Hazel, who were two years older than me. Orion had black hair while Hazel had brown. Both of them had gray eyes like Dad, and I was the only one who had green eyes like Mum.

"Come on, Ari," Dad said. "It's time to go to the Weasleys."

Before I go on any further, let me explain about my family. My mother's brother, Harry Potter, was married to Ginny Weasley (now Potter), and her mother thought of Uncle Harry and Mum as her own children because they didn't have parents. I wasn't told why until I got my Hogwarts letter.

So, during the summer, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley invited their family to the Burrow for a small family get-together. Well, it wasn't exactly small because Grandma and Grandpa had seven kids. Nine if you counted Mum and Uncle Harry. All of them had kids, except for Uncle Charlie, who wasn't married.

"Who wants to go first?" Mum asked as she held out a flowerpot with glittering green powder. It was Floo Powder.

"I will!" Hazel shouted, waving her hand in the air.

"Go right on ahead, Hazel," Dad said. Even though she was sixteen, she still acted like she was five.

Hazel took a bit of Floo Powder from the flowerpot and threw it into the fireplace. Emerald flames rose up, taller than Dad, even. Hazel walked into the flames and said, "The Burrow!" My sister disappeared.

"Ari, you next," Mum said.

I grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from the pot. I walked up to the fireplace and threw the powder in there. Emerald fire sprang up. I walked into it, which felt like a warm breath. "The Burrow!" I said.

It felt like I was falling through a skinny tunnel. I kept my elbows tucked in so that they wouldn't hit the sides. I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't get dizzy. I finally slid out of a fireplace after a few, hot minutes.

I opened my eyes to a large kitchen with a long table and many chairs. Sitting at the table were two older looking adults with gray hair. Around them sat several adults with red or dark hair.

"Ariana, dear," Grandma Weasley said as she got up and hugged me. Her gray hair was tied back in a half ponytail. "How are you?"

"I'm doing great, Grandma," I responded.

I sat down between my cousin Albus and Victoire. Albus and I were both going into our fourth year. Victoire graduated three years ago.

Mum walked out of the fireplace next. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, Dani, how many times have I told you to call me 'Mum'?" Grandma asked.

"Uh, I believe this is the 512th time."

"I'll take your word for it," a black-haired man with glasses said from Al's other side. This was Mum's brother, Uncle Harry. On his other side sat Aunt Ginny, her red hair long.

"Hey, James, Roxanne, Stacy, Fabian, Gideon, Lily, and Rose are at the orchard about to play Quidditch," Al said. "You want to come and watch?"

"Sure," I replied. Al knew that I didn't like playing backyard Quidditch, though I did love to watch.

Albus and I stood up and walked out the back door of the kitchen and into the backyard where there were untamed bushes everywhere.

[Cue Music: Race Ginny, Half-Blood Prince video game]

"Race you to the orchard!" Al yelled. He took off running.

"ALBUS POTTER!" I screamed. "That is SO not fair!" But I raced after him anyways. I jumped over hidden gnome holes and roots.

Albus ran to the left toward the broom shed. He still thought that he would beat me. I kept running as fast as I could.

Al walked out of the broom shed with his _Firebolt 5_ over his shoulder. I ran right past him. A shadow passed over me. I looked up and saw my cousin flying past me on his broom. "Not fair!" I shouted.

I started running harder. I could see the orchard not that far away. Albus flew over me and landed in the orchard. When I reached it, I stopped and doubled over, breathing hard.

"You… cheated!" I said between breaths. I heard laughter all around me. I looked up and saw Albus, James, Roxanne, Stacy, Fabian, and Gideon roaring with laughter. Lily and Rose stood near them and giggled.

"Well," James said, "now that Al's here, we can get started. Okay, I want Stacy, Gid, and Lils on my team."

"Then I get Fabe, Al, and Rosie on my team," Roxanne said.

"Ari, you can be the referee," Al said. Out of all of my cousins, I was closest to Al.

"Okay." I found my favorite apple tree in the orchard. I put my right foot in the lowest branch and reached up with my left arm and pulled myself up. I put my left foot in a fork between limbs and reached up with my right hand and pulled myself up some more. I settled myself on a branch, and then I looked out. I could see two figures running up the hill with brooms over their shoulders. They were Hazel and Orion.

"Hey, guys," Hazel said as she and her twin reached us, "are we too late?"

"No, you're just in time," I said from my perch.

"I call Orion!" Roxanne said.

"Then I get Hazel," James said.

"Stop talking about us as if we're chocolate frog cards," Orion said.

"Ari, Mum wanted to talk to you about something," Hazel said.

[End Music]

I nodded and climbed down from my perch. I ran through the orchard and back to the Weasleys' huge house. Mum told me that they had added on since us kids came around for occasions just like our get-together.

I walked into the kitchen. What did Mum want to talk to me about? I found her in the sitting room.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked tentatively.

"Something's stirring," Mum said, her black hair falling over her face. "I can feel it in the air." She then turned to me, looking as if she had just noticed me. "Oh, hey Ari. I called you here to give you this." She held up a necklace with a black string and a silver crescent moon pendant. "This pendant is special. It can turn the wearer invisible if you touch the indention right here." She pointed her finger above a tiny pinhole indention that was hard to see.

I turned around and held my hair up. I felt my mother's hands put the string around my neck. The cold metal of the pendant touched my neck. I shivered involuntarily. After Mum fastened the clasp, I let my hair down.

"Consider this your birthday present," Mum said.

"Mum, my birthday's already gone."

"No it's not. It's in September."

"Mum!"

"All right, it's in June."

I turned around. Mum smiled and hugged me. I hugged her back.

That was when it happened.

The room turned dark. Mum let go of me and looked outside the window and gasped: The sky was filling with dark clouds, lightning bolts shooting out of them. The worst part was, the clouds were over the orchard.

[Cue music: Night of Fate, Kingdom Hearts]

"The kids," Mum whispered. She ran out of the sitting room shouting, "We need to get the kids in here!"

The adults in the kitchen pulled out their wands and ran outside. I tried to follow, but Dad stopped me, saying, "Stay in here."

"But-"

"No buts!" With that, he ran outside.

I couldn't believe I was going to do this. I ran to the stairwell. I picked up the pendant Mum had given me and touched the indention. I watched as my hand turned invisible, and then it spread through my body. I walked out to the kitchen door. I took a deep breath and stepped outside.

The black clouds had gotten thicker over the orchard. I ran as fast as I could. Albus. Hazel. Orion. Mum. Dad. They were all in danger. I could feel it.

I pumped my legs as hard as I could. I stumbled a few times, but I eventually made it there.

It was chaos. Black bug things with yellow eyes rose up from the ground. The adults shot spells out of their wands, the light contrasting greatly to the growing darkness.

I felt something tickle in my chest, about where my heart was. Sparkles of light appeared in my hand. A second later, the sparkles gained weight, if that were possible. The sparkles faded, leaving the strangest looking thing I had ever seen, and I was a witch.

In my hand appeared something that looked like a dull sword with spikes at the end. The handle was shaped like a light blue cloud with something to grip on in the center of it. The "blade" was sky blue. At the end of it was a brilliant yellow open circle with yellow tabs sticking out of it, making it look like a sun. Coming out of the handle was a short, small chain with a blue cloud and a yellow sun peeking out from behind. The words _Radiant Sky_ resonated through my mind.

All of this happened in two seconds. What was this thing? What was that voice?

In the confusion, I let go of the pendant. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the black bugs stop fighting and turn towards me. Oh no. They charged at me.

I raised _Radiant Sky_ in what I hoped was a defensive position, even though it felt a little uncomfortable. The bugs bounced off, and I skidded back a few feet. I swung the sun-sword (what else could I call it?) and sliced it through a bug. How did I do that? It had looked as if I had been able to do that my whole life. The bug dissipated into black mist. Behind it, one jumped at me, but it bounced off of something. I looked around and saw Victoire with her wand at the ready.

"Let's see how they like this! **Expecto Patronum**!" A silver Pegasus flew out of her wand and galloped around the orchard, ramming into the bugs. The rest shied away from the glowing light.

"I thought you were supposed to be at the Burrow," Victoire said as the Pegasus kicked a bug, making it disappear. "And what in the name of Merlin is that?" She gestured to _Radiant Sky_.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Something… called me here, and then this appeared." I held up the sun-sword.

"Everyone!" Victoire shouted. "They hate Patronuses!"

Eight shouts of "**Expecto Patronum**" later, there were a stag, a dolphin, a terrier, an otter, a horse, a Pegasus, a weasel, and an owl standing/flying in the orchard. The bugs back off. They melted into the ground and disappeared. Everyone cheered.

It wasn't over yet. A black fog rose up from the ground. The cheers immediately quieted. It was a giant, navy blue monster with tentacles sticking out of its head. Its eyes were glowing yellow, and it had a large, heart-shaped hole in the center of its chest.

I walked forward with _Radiant Sky_ in my left hand. I vaguely heard protests behind me, but I ignored them. I held the sun-sword at the ready.

"Protect the others," I said in a distant voice. I set off at a dead run to the monster. There was a flash of light, and the orchard was surrounded my darkness. My family disappeared.

The monster tried to pound me with its fist. I ran out of the way. After it pounded, I ran to the fist and started striking it with _Radiant Sky_. It lifted up its hand and stood tall. Its hands were too high for me to reach, so I waited.

The monster got on its knees. It put its arms to its sides. The heart-shaped hole started to glow purple. It fired two balls of purple energy at me. I raised the sun-sword to block the strikes. It not only did that, it reflected the energy. The strikes sailed back to their owner.

It did this twice more before standing up again. It plunged its fist into the ground, creating a shockwave, which I jumped over. It pulled its hand back out, holding a ball that was swirling black and violet. The energy flew up into the air.

Was that it? No. I felt something hit my right shoulder painfully. I looked up: It was raining black and purple orbs. I ran around, trying to keep them from hitting me.

Finally, the orbs stopped raining down.

Something was telling to try it. _Do not be afraid…_ That made up my mind. I lifted _Radiant Sky_ and thought of being at Hogwarts with Hazel, Orion, and Albus; of my best friend, Angelique; of playing Seeker on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. "**Expecto Patronum**!"

A bright silver wolf bounded out of the sun-sword and ran, hackles raised, through the air to the monster's head. There it collided, the silvery light contrasting greatly with the navy blue.

[End music]

Yes! My Patronus padded to my side. For a moment, it looked like everything was going to be fine.

All of a sudden, the ground started shaking. I stumbled, and my Patronus vanished. I felt the wind pushing me upward. I tried to resist, and scrabbled at the ground, but there was nothing I could hold onto. I screamed, and everything turned black.

_Do not be afraid…_

**A/N – So, I need to work on my fight scenes, I know.  
**


	3. A Town of Traverse

**I know I'm updating when I said that I had to get a review first, but I already had this all written out, and I thought "Whatever!"**

**Okay, I now know when it's going to start. Also, please tell me if I make any of the Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy characters OOC or if I describe them wrong. I really don't want to make mistakes.**

**I don't own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts! Only my OCs!**

**And bear with me! I still need to practice on my fight scenes!**

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Chapter Three: A Town of Traverse

**[Third Person POV]**

Merlin the wizard walked calmly to District One of Traverse Town. That was something he was happy to say. He could walk _calmly_. Actually, he was happy that he could just walk. Normally he would teleport from place to place. He had not been able to walk around without fear for a while. But then a boy called Sora had come and gotten rid of the Heartless problem. That boy-

Wait. There was a disturbance in the universe. Merlin looked into the sky, which was always dark and filled with stars on this world. There was one star in the sky that looked brighter than the others. All of a sudden, the star disappeared. Merlin bowed his head in respect to the world lost.

"Another world gone," the old wizard whispered.

Merlin decided to walk to where Squall Leonhart (Leon), Yuffie the ninja, Aerith, and Cid lived.

Something caught his eye, though. It was a white tennis shoe sticking out from the alley. What was that doing there? He walked to the shoe. It wasn't just a shoe. Merlin found a leg attached to the foot, which he found another of. The legs were those of a girl with brown hair. She wore a blue and off-white horizontally striped sweatshirt with a hood that had drawstrings. It had a pocket on the front. She wore blue jeans. She was an unconscious girl with brown hair.

Merlin pulled out his long wand and made a stretcher appear out of thin air. He levitated the girl onto it and walked more urgently to Leon's, the stretcher floating by his side.

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**[Ariana's POV]**

My head was swimming. What was going on? Where was I? I thought I heard footsteps beside me. Then it faded. My only thought was: _I hate being unconscious._

I finally woke up. The bed I was in was soft. I opened my eyes. Where was I? I was definitely not in my room at home or in the Hufflepuff dorm.

I sat up. "Where am I?" I asked.

"Good, you're awake!" someone said. It was a kind voice of a woman. I looked around and saw a woman with long brown hair that curled down the side of her face with a pink bow in the back. She had on a pink dress and a purple belt. She had warm green eyes and a smile on her face.

"My name is Aerith," the woman said. "You are in Traverse Town."

"Traverse Town? I've never heard of it. What country is this in?"

"It isn't in a country," a man said. He had shoulder-length messy brown hair and a scar across his face. He had on black pants, a white shirt, and a black short-sleeved jacket. "This is where the lost people turn up."

"Lost?" I asked. "What do you mean by lost?"

"Don't be so blunt, Squall," a girl with short black hair and dark eyes said. She had on yellow shorts and a green shirt that showed her stomach. She had on a thin, yellow scarf around her neck and off-white stockings and orange shoes and gloves. She also had a white headband.

"It's _Leon_," the black-clad man, Leon, said.

"This is Yuffie and Leon," Aerith said, gesturing to the girl and man, respectively. "'Lost' means someone who has lost their world to the Heartless."

"What are those?" I asked.

"Have you ever heard of someone called Ansem?" Leon asked. I shook my head. "He conducted these experiments on the darkness in people's hearts. Don't be so shocked." He must have read my mind. Either that or my face. "Everyone has darkness in their hearts. Well, one day, one of Ansem's experiments went wrong. He created the Heartless, and our world was overrun with them. That's how we ended up here. When someone opens their heart to the darkness, they become a Heartless."

"And just like people, worlds have hearts as well," Aerith continued. "That must've been how you wound up here: The Heartless must have consumed your world."

"What's your name?" Yuffie asked in a hyper voice that reminded me of Hazel. It was probably to take my mind off of what I had just heard.

"Ariana Diggory," I said, "but you can call me Ari. Have you seen my family? Anybody that looks like me?"

"I'm sorry, but no," Aerith said.

"Oh." My family and friends were gone. My home was gone because of these "Heartless". Would I ever see them again? I felt tears sting my eyes.

"You'll find them," Aerith reassured, "just so long as you believe it."

"Come on!" Yuffie said, springing up from her chair. "I'll show you Traverse Town!"

She disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab mine and pull me out the door and into a long hallway. It was Yuffie.

"Are you a witch?" I asked Yuffie as she pulled me out of the building at a run.

Yuffie stopped and let go of my hand. "Do I look like I have green skin?" she asked.

I shook my head. "But that's demeaning. Most witches I know don't have green skin. Actually, I don't know any witches with green skin. I think that's a banshee. There is this witch I know who has boys goggling over her. And if you're not a witch, what are you?"

"I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! The best ninja alive!" She grabbed my hand and started pulling me around the town.

I looked up. The sky was dark. "What time is it?" I asked.

"3 o'clock!"

"Morning or afternoon?"

"Afternoon!"

"Why is always dark here?"

"I dunno!"

"What are those things?"

"Heartless." There was a pause. "Wait, Heartless!"

Yuffie stopped running and let go of my hand. She pulled out a large metal star and threw it at the small, black bugs that were threatening a woman.

"I'll help!" I said. The next second, _Radiant Sky_ appeared in my hand in a shower of light.

The bugs, the Heartless that I'd heard about, stopped everything and charged straight at me. Yuffie caught some at the back.

The Heartless started slashing their claws at me as soon as they got anywhere close to me. I swung _Radiant Sky_ around, again surprising myself as I swung it with ease. I managed to swing in a circle and get the Heartless to back away from me.

Pain lanced through my back. A Heartless must have gotten me. I swung the sun-sword (still didn't know what to call it). Three of the bugs vanished in black mist, leaving behind yellow cubes and green balls. I picked up both and pressed the spheres to my back. They alleviated some of the pain.

I turned around and lunged at a bug. I sliced it in two, leaving nothing but black mist and more squares and balls. I picked them up as well.

By then, there were only two Heartless left. Yuffie pulled out a small knife and threw it at one. I swung _Radiant Sky_ and got rid of the last one.

"Thank you!" the woman said. "Here take this." She pulled out a green bottle and handed it to Yuffie. The woman picked up her dropped bag and walked away.

"Here, Ari," Yuffie said. She tossed the green bottle to me. I caught it. "This is a potion. If you're feeling weak, you can drink this and get some of your energy back. Now, aren't you going to put that away?" She pointed at _Radiant Sky_.

"How do I do that?"

"I don't know! Think about it?"

I thought about it vanishing, going back to… wherever it came from. The sun-sword disappeared in a shower of sparks.

"Why didn't you tell me that you have a Keyblade?"

"Oh, _that's_ what it's called," I said.

"Come on," Yuffie said, "we've gotta tell Squall!" She grabbed my hand and started running through the town.

We burst into the room I woke up in.

"Aerith, Ari's got a Keyblade!" Yuffie shouted.

Aerith, Leon, and a man I didn't know stopped talking immediately. The man looked to be in his forties. He had blond hair that was spiked into a point in the front. He had on a white, short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans and a weird tool-belt thing around his waist that was khaki in color.

"Ari, this is Cid," Aerith introduced. "Cid, this is Ariana."

Cid nodded, a toothpick in his mouth.

"So," Leon said, "a Keyblade, huh? They're very powerful and dangerous."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"They have the power to unlock any lock," Aerith said, "and they're really magical. Their main property is that they're weapons of light."

"The Heartless fear the Keyblade," Leon said, "which means that they'll go after anyone with a Keyblade."

"What exactly are the Heartless?" I asked. "I mean, I know that they are beings of the darkness of someone's heart, but other than that, I don't know anything about them."

"The Heartless will go around and try to steal hearts," Aerith explained. "But the Keyblade can release those hearts and eradicate the Heartless."

"There are two types of Heartless," Yuffie said, "Pureblood, like those Shadows we fought, and Emblem. Those all have the Heartless sign on them."

I sat there, trying to soak in all of the information. "What should I do?" I asked.

"There is one other person that we know of who has a Keyblade," Leon said. "He goes by the name of Sora. He would probable teach you a thing or two about the Keyblade. Do you know how to fight?" I shook my head. "I can teach you a thing or two if you want."

"Okay."

"Are you going to join Sora's group?" Aerith asked.

Joining this Sora sounded like my only chance of finding my family and finding out what happened to my world. But that would mean I would have to fight. I was a Hufflepuff for Merlin's sake! We didn't fight. But then again, my father was a Hufflepuff and he was an Auror for a few years after the fall of Voldemort. Maybe I _could_ call upon the courage of a Gryffindor.

"I'll do it," I said.

"Okay, then," Cid said. It was the first time I heard him speak. "I'll call their ship and tell them to come."

"In the meantime," Leon said, "I'll spar with you."

Leon led me out of the building and to an abandoned building. He must have come here often because there were two sticks set against the wall and a punching bag. There were also a few weights.

Leon picked up the sticks and tossed one to me. I barely caught it with my left hand.

"Which hand is your dominant?" Leon asked.

"My left."

Leon jumped at me, his stick raised. I raised my stick and blocked his strike. It was clumsier than how I blocked with my Keyblade. Leon backed off. I swung my stick horizontally. Leon blocked by holding his stick vertically.

We continued like this for about half an hour. I was able to block a few of Leon's strikes, but I did acquire _a lot_ of bruises by the time Leon called it quits. I was jealous: I didn't land a single blow on him.

"Come on," Leon said, "I'll get Aerith to heal you."

I followed him back to the inn. When we walked in, we met Aerith. She noticed the bruises on my face. She raised her hand, which was glowing with green light. "Cure," she whispered. The green light covered me. The bruises immediately stopped throbbing.

"How did you do magic without a wand?" I asked incredulously.

"In my world, people don't use wands for magic. We can do elemental, healing, and some creation spells. What about you?"

"Where do I begin? We have so many different kinds of magic. I'm going to have to take you to my world one day. We all have to use wands to channel our magic, though I did use my Keyblade to create a Patronus."

"What's a Patronus?"

"A shield that takes on the form of an animal to protect the caster from the effects of Dementors. My family did use them when they invaded my world."

"They sound really useful."

At that moment, Cid walked up, his toothpick still in his mouth. "Kid, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are here. Oh! And I've got some stuff from the Accessory Shop." He held a circlet and a few green bottles, some of them with stars on them. "This here's Imperial Crown. **(1).** It can give you a whole lot of stamina and some defense. It can also make your magic more powerful. Here are some potions and Hi-potions. The Hi-potions are just more powerful potions."

"Thank you. How can I repay you?"

"Just help Sora beat Maleficent!"

I nodded and walked to where Cid pointed me. Who was Maleficent? I was going to have to ask later. I put the circlet on my head and walked in.

The three people I saw were not at all whom I expected.

There was a white duck with a blue shirt and a blue hat with a zipper.

There was a dog-man with yellow pants and a hat and a green shirt.

The last person was a boy about my age with brown hair that was spiked up. It was either natural, with hair gel, or just defying the laws of gravity. He had on large yellow shoes, a red jumpsuit thing that had shorts that, I don't know, poofed out, a blue belt, a navy blue short-sleeved jacket lined with white and white sleeves, and white fingerless gloves. A crown pendant was draped around his neck. His eyes were sky blue.

"Hi!" the boy said. "I'm Sora! These are Donald and Goofy." He gestured to the duck and dog-man, respectively.

"I'm Ariana Diggory," I said, sticking my hand out, "but you can call me Ari." Sora took my hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"So, a Keybearer, huh?" Goofy asked. He had a kind of gulping Southern United States accent. "How did you find out?"

"I don't know," I said. "It just appeared in my hand when the Heartless attacked my home." My home. I had brought it up again. My friends. My family. Those people I didn't know yet still belonged there. I hung my head.

"Hey," Donald said in a quacking voice, "on our ship, no frowns are permitted. Smiles only!"

I looked up and nearly burst out laughing. The trio had the goofiest smiles I had ever seen, no pun intended. Finally, I couldn't hold it in. I burst out laughing.

"That's it!" Sora said cheerfully. "Welcome to the team!"

He, Donald, and Goofy put their hands together in the middle of a square with a missing corner. They looked up at me. I walked to them and put my hand on top of theirs.

"All for one," Donald said.

"And one for all!" Goofy finished.

"C'mon!" Donald said. "Let's go to the Gummi ship!"

"Gummy ship?" I asked. Was it made out of gummy bears?

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked out. I followed them, but before we had to leave, I wanted to say good-bye to Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. Oh yeah, and Cid, too.

We met the four of them as we were walking out. I stopped walking and said, "Thank you, all of you. I don't know where I'd be without you."

Yuffie ran up to me and gave me a big hug.

"Good-bye," Aerith said. "I want to hear more about your world when you come back.

Cid and Leon just nodded.

"You ready, Ari?" Goofy asked. I nodded. We walked outside and through the dark town. We got to these large double doors. Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked through them. I followed and saw nothing. All I saw were some brightly colored space ships. Beyond them was nothing but a black sky and hundreds of stars.

"This is our Gummi ship, the _Highwind_!" Donald said proudly, gesturing to a red, yellow, and white ship. He, Sora, and Goofy climbed in. I hesitated. I wanted to check something first.

Sora came back after a minute and stared at me. Then he burst out laughing. "What are you doing?"

"Awateh 'oo 'ee ifuz 'ummy," I said through a mouthful of the ship's wing. "Ih ihn't."

"What?"

I took my mouth off the wing. "I wanted to see if it was gummy. It isn't."

He laughed again and said, "C'mon, we're about to go."

I climbed in after the spiky-haired boy and saw him, Donald, and Goofy already in their seats. I found one in the back and strapped myself in. Donald was at the controls.

"Prepare for lift off!" Donald quacked. I felt the ship rumble. The next second, I was forced back into my seat. I looked out the window. The view was amazing! It was the night sky, but it was all around us. Stars were everywhere, floating in the black expanse.

"Those stars are all of the worlds," Sora said.

"That's incredible," I whispered.

* * *

**1: This is from 358/2 Days as far as I know. DID NOT make it up.**

**A/N: Hope you all liked it! I'm hoping that the later chapters will be about this length.**

**Thank you to DarkRiddlesDestiny for putting this story on alert.  
**


	4. Training

**I'm back… again! So, this chapter is kind of a filler, kind of not. You can decide if you want.**

**I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCS!**

Chapter Four: Training.

A few minutes after we lifted off in the Gummi Ship, Donald said, "Okay, it's safe to move around."

Sora and Goofy unbuckled and stood up. I did the same.

"We have a few hours until we reach the new world," Donald announced.

"That'll give us time to do some training," Sora said. He turned to me. "Do you know how to fight?"

"No," I said, "though I did spar with Leon for a little while before you came."

"C'mon. I'll spar with you, though I doubt you can beat me."

Sora led me out of the cockpit and through several rooms, one of which was a kitchen, until he opened a door that lead to a large, empty room.

A flash of light appeared in Sora's right hand. After the light faded, I saw what looked like a giant key. Now I knew why it was called a Keyblade. The hilt was gold and shaped almost like a "D". The "blade" part was rounded and silver, and the teeth looked like a cutout of Sora's crown pendant. Out of the bottom of the hilt was a chain with a silver circle and two other smaller circles that were positioned like ears on it.

I thought about my own Keyblade. It appeared in a shower of sparks in my left hand.

"You're left-handed?" Sora asked. I nodded.

"Start out easy on me, okay?" I asked.

Sora charged at me, Keyblade raised. I raised my own to block. I swung at Sora, who jumped back. He pointed his Keyblade at me and shouted, "Fire!" I held up my own and shouted "**Glacius**!" The ice that shot from my Keyblade met the fire and put it out.

"Whoa," Sora said. "What was that?"

"Magic. That was a spell that I learned last year in my third year."

"Third grade?"

I giggled. "No. All thirteen-year-olds learn that spell. There are several others that I learned in past years like **Expelliarmus**!" I shot the spell at Sora's Keyblade, which flew out of his hand. "That particular one is a disarming spell."

"Wow! That would be so useful against the Heartless! Can you teach me?"

"I don't know. I don't think you're a Muggle-"

"What?"

"Non-magical person. Like I said, I don't think you're a Muggle because you just created a fireball. Hmm… Maybe I could teach you some basics, maybe alternatives for what you already know."

"Fire first."

"Okay. The incantation is **Incendio**." I pointed my Keyblade at the wall. "**Incendio**!"

Bluebell flames shot out of _Radiant Sky_ and hit the wall, creating a small, charred spot.

"That one was weak. If it were stronger, I would have blasted a hole through the wall. What we need is a target. Hmm…"

"What about the wall?" Sora asked.

"I guess. Just try not to put a hole in it."

"What do I have to do?"

"What I normally have to do is wave my wand a certain way and say the incantation and focus on what I want. I don't think you have to wave the Keyblade."

I watched as Sora narrowed his blue eyes in concentration. He pointed his Keyblade at the wall and said, "**Incendio**!" A huge burst of blue flames flew out of his Keyblade and hit the wall, making a hole into the next room.

I quickly walked over to the wall, pointed my Keyblade at the hole and said, "**Reparo**." The hole repaired itself, as if nothing had every happened.

"I can't believe I just did that!" Sora said excitedly, like a little kid. "That was so cool!"

"You, Sora," I said, "are now a wizard. Now all we need to do is get you a wand and enroll you in Hogwarts!" Hogwarts. The Burrow. Mum and Dad. Hazel and Orion. My face fell.

Immediately, I heard a voice furiously shouting/quacking, "WHO'S FROWNING?" It was Donald. Who else had a voice like that? I smiled a little. "THAT'S BETTER!"

"What's life like on your world?" Sora asked. He plopped down onto the ground. I sat down with a little more dignity.

"Hmm… Where do I start?"

"You could tell me what Hogwarts is."

I explained to him about the school, its four houses and their rivalries, Quidditch, and the subjects. I told him about the teachers there, my favorite ones, like Professor Maud of Charms, and least favorite ones like Professor Binns, a ghost who taught History of magic.

"You have a ghost as a teacher?" Sora asked incredulously. "That's so cool!"

"Not really. His classes are extremely boring. After about two weeks, I started relying on my sister's first year notes. She's a Ravenclaw. So is her twin brother, Orion."

"What house are you in?"

"Hufflepuff. I've got a friend in Slytherin. Normally, we don't mix, but Angelique happens to be one of my best friends."

"What about your other friends?"

"Well, one of them is my cousin. His name is Albus, and he's in Gryffindor and in my year. We're so close we could probably be siblings. Then there's Charlotte Moon. Apparently, our mothers were close friends in Hogwarts. Now tell me about your world."

Sora told me about his home, Destiny Islands, a tropical paradise. He told me about his two best friends, Riku and Kairi, and how he was looking for them as he helped Donald and Goofy look for their king, Mickey. Then he told me about his adventures in Wonderland, Deep Jungle, and Olympus Coliseum.

"Then the last time we went to Traverse Town," Sora continued, "just before we met you, we found Riku, but he seemed different. He seemed almost jealous. He told me that I liked my Keyblade and Donald and Goofy than I liked being friends with him. I turned around for a few seconds, and then he disappeared."

"You'll find him again," I said. "Also, I want to hear more about those other worlds you went to."

"You should see Jiminy's journal."

"Whose?"

Something leapt out of Sora's hood and landed on my knee. It looked like a small bug that was wearing a suit.

"Cricket's the name," it, or should I say _he_, said, "Jiminy Cricket. My job is to chronicle Sora's journey for the King. Here's my journal." He pulled something out of his pocket and put it in my hand. It looked like a tiny book. "It has everything in there from when Donald, Goofy, and I met Sora up till now. It has pictures and descriptions of everyone that we met."

"Wow," I said. I picked up my Keyblade, pointed it at the book, and said, "**Engorgio**." The tiny book got large enough so that I could read it.

At that moment, Goofy walked in with his weird way. "Hey, fellers," he said, "we're gettin' to a new world called Agrabah."

"Cool!" Sora said. "A new world!"

Jiminy jumped back into Sora's hood. The rest of us walked back to the cockpit, where Donald was sitting at the controls. What we saw out the windshield in all of outer space was a desert with tan buildings with gold, onion-shaped domes on top. The underside was dark.

"We'll go down there tomorrow," Donald said.

"Aw, why not now?" Sora asked.

"It's already 7 o'clock!" The duck pointed to an analogue clock on the wall. True enough, it was 7 o'clock. Time really did fly.

We walked into the kitchen, where Donald pulled some small containers out of a cabinet. Goofy and Sora were sitting at the table that was in the middle of the room. It had four seats around it. On top of that table was a much smaller table. Jiminy Cricket jumped out of Sora's hood and sat at the midget table. I sat down next to Goofy.

Donald walked to the table, four bowls of macaroni and cheese in his arms. Or were they wings? Whatever. He put them on the table, one for each of us. Donald put a tiny plate on Jiminy's table and put a cheesy noodle on the cricket's plate.

"I'll get the drinks," I said. I stood up and walked to the Muggle refrigerator. I opened it and saw several cans of Coke, Mountain Dew, and Sprite and some bottles of water. They had those in other worlds? That was neat. "Who wants what?" I asked.

"Water, please," Goofy said.

"I want some Sprite," Donald said.

"Bring on the Dew," Sora said.

I pulled one of each of those out and a bottle of water for myself and walked back to the table.

"Here's to Ari!" Donald said, bringing up his can of Sprite. "The new member of the team!"

Sora, Goofy and I brought up our own drinks and clinked them together. We opened our bottles/cans and took a long gulp.

I twiddled my fork in my macaroni. I had one particular question. I really didn't have any way of using any tact, so I just blurted it out. "Who's Maleficent?"

Everybody stopped eating and stared at me.

"Where did you hear about her?" Donald asked, suspicion in his voice.

"Cid mentioned her once," I replied. "He didn't tell me who she is though."

"She's a witch," Sora said. "She took over Leon's world, Hollow Bastion. After it was filled with darkness, she built a castle. Maleficent controls the Heartless."

"Wow," I said.

"Let's not talk about that," Goofy said. "We need to talk about happier stuff."

"Ooh, have I got the story to tell you," I said. "It's about this prank my parents, Uncle Harry, Uncle Fred, and Uncle George pulled on this woman called Umbridge…"

* * *

Supper ended on a much lighter note than how I had started it. That night, I took Jiminy's journal with me to bed and started reading. It was all really amazing with all of the different people – the good and bad – and all of the different worlds. I fell asleep hoping that I would be able to find someone that I knew.

The next morning, after a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon, Sora, Donald, and Goofy took me to meet the Gummi ship's engineers. They led me to a room not far from the cockpit. In the room, there was a panel with buttons and whatnot that a Muggle would be able to identify. There was a wall of glass with an opening near one of the metal walls.

"This is the teleportation room," Donald said. "Chip and Dale don't let anyone near the engine room."

Two little animals climbed onto the control panel. They were chipmunks with yellow tunics with gears on them. One chipmunk had a small, black nose, the other with a large, red nose. They waved at me.

"Hi there!" said the one with the black nose. "My name's Chip, and that's Dale!"

"It's nice to meet you," I said to the talking animals. "My name's Ari."

"Let's go!" Donald said impatiently. He was tapping his orange, webbed foot impatiently.

We walked behind the wall of glass and waited for the chipmunks to teleport us. I had heard of teleportation in Muggle science fiction, but I really didn't think it was possible.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation that started from my fingers and toes and worked its way up. I looked down at my hands. They were turning fuzzy along with the rest of my body. Everything turned black. One second later, I was met with blinding light.

**A/N – And so Ari begins her world traversing. Stay tuned! The next chapter's a long one.**

**Thank you to:  
DarkRiddlesDestiny **for your kind review and putting this on your alerts.  
**Fallen Oblivion Angel **for putting this on your alerts and favorites.


	5. Arabian Dream

**Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!**

**I OWN NOTHING!**

Chapter Five: Arabian Dream

I blinked, trying to get used to the bright light. Soon, I could make out shapes, and then I could make out the buildings. They looked like they were made from sandstone. Colorful hangings and canopies were everywhere. It looked like this place was a collection of shops, like a strip mall.

It looked like a normally bustling city, but it wasn't. There was nobody around.

It was really hot here. I pulled off my sweatshirt, revealing my purple short-sleeved shirt. That felt better.

We soon found out why nobody was around. Shadows phased out of the ground. More of a different kind of Heartless appeared. They wore purple and had off-white turbans that covered their faces. All I could see were their yellow eyes. On the turbans was a symbol that looked like a black heart with red thorns crossing over it. They all carried curved – and sharp-looking – swords.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly summoned their weapons. Donald had a brown staff with a purple orb on top of it with a brown wizard's hat on that. Goofy had a blue and black shield with the same mouse-head that Sora had on his Keyblade's key chain. All three of them started whacking the Heartless around.

I summoned _Radiant Sky_ and got the same strange feeling of familiarity like the last time I fought the Heartless. I ran to one of the bandit-looking Heartless and started whacking it with my Keyblade. It swung its sword at me. I raised my Keyblade and said, "**Wingardium Leviosa**!" The sword flew out of the Heartless' hand and flew away. I proceeded to whack it some more.

The Heartless disappeared, a pink heart rising to the sky. I looked around and saw that all of the other Heartless were already gone.

"You're getting better, Ari," Sora said as his Keyblade disappeared. He pointed to an arch and said, "Let's go over there."

We walked through an arch that had a sign that said "Bazaar" over it. On the other side of the arch was a small, dead-end area that had boxes everywhere.

I heard a gasp and turned to where it came from. Behind a small stack of boxes stood a young woman with dark skin and long, black hair. She had a turquoise headband/circlet in her hair with a turquoise gem. She had on turquoise clothes.

"Who's there? Hello?" she asked. She came out from behind the boxes. We introduced ourselves to her. "My name is Jasmine. My father is the sultan of Agrabah."

"So that makes you a princess," Goofy said.

"But he has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city."

"Jafar?" I asked.

"You haven't heard of him? He's the royal vizier. He's gained evil powers and seized control of Agrabah. He's desperately looking for something he calls the 'Keyhole'. Jafar caught me trying to escape, but he helped me."

"Who helped you?" Sora asked.

"We were hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something… Oh, I hope Aladdin's alright."

"Aladdin? Where might I find this street rat?" a cool voice said above us. "Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. Those little rats and the mouse won't do." We all turned and saw a man garbed in dark red and black with a black and red turban with a red feather. He had a staff with a snake's head carved at the top.

Sora summoned his Keyblade. "Jasmine, run!"

The princess ran out of the bazaar. I followed, saying, "I'll go with her!" I followed Jasmine, who ran into the empty street. She walked to an archway that had wood piled in it. She found a small crawlspace and crawled (duh) through. I followed her.

On the other side was another part of the market place, but this part had higher walls than the other parts of the city. It also had a set of large, wooden, double doors.

"We must try and lose Jafar in the place!" Jasmine said as we ran to the doors. Suddenly, Jasmine stopped. I skidded to a halt right behind her. In front of her was some black and red mist. Out of it stepped Jafar.

"Going somewhere?" he asked in his cold voice.

I grabbed Jasmine's hand and pulled her back to the wood filled archway. Before we could get there, three of the bandit Heartless appeared. I summoned _Radiant Sky_ and spun around in a circle, batting the three of them away.

One of them jumped and tried to hit me with its sword. I blocked its strike and froze it with **Glacius**. I pointed my Keyblade at the second one and said, "**Reducto**!" The Heartless exploded into black mist, a pink heart rising from it.

I swung my Keyblade at the other Heartless. It blocked with its scimitar and hit my right shoulder with it. It ripped right through my sleeve. Hey! That was one of my favorite shirts!

I struck harder, and finally, the Heartless evaporated into black mist, a heart rising from it. What were the hearts about anyways?

I felt something cut across my back. It was the bandit Heartless that I had frozen. It still had frost on its clothes. I hit it twice, making it disappear.

I grabbed Jasmine's hand and crawled through the woodpile. I ran, not caring where. Jasmine pulled me behind a stand selling plates. The princess crouched. I did, too. I put my Keyblade away so that Jafar's Heartless wouldn't be able to sniff it out.

I heard the stomping of feet. It must have been the Heartless. I chanced a peek. All I saw was a large, yellow shoe going to the bazaar.

"I think it's safe," I said as I ducked down again. "Where should we go?"

"We could try to find Razoul, a palace guard," Jasmine said. "I know he would help us. He should be near the palace gate by now."

"Let's go carefully," I whispered. I thought of something. I picked up the string Mum's pendant was on. I grabbed Jasmine's hand with my right hand and touched the tiny indention with my left. Jasmine gasped as we turned invisible.

We stood up slowly and stepped out quietly. We tiptoed to the blocked arch and crawled through the hole. I made sure that Jasmine held my foot.

I crawled out first, and there was a moment when Jasmine's hand slipped. I looked around. No one had spotted us, I hoped.

After Jasmine crawled out, we walked to the palace gate. "Where is he?" she asked.

"I hope you're talking about me," a voice said. Jafar stepped out from behind a corner. The bad part was he was looking straight _at_ us.

"What are you?" I asked, dropping the pendant and backing away.

"Why, I'm a sorcerer," Jafar said. "And you have a Heart of Magic. That would be very useful to me."

"What's a Heart of Magic?" I asked.

The sorcerer didn't get to answer because three people jumped down from a rooftop. One was Sora. The second person was a young man with dark skin, black hair, dark eyes, and was wearing a purple vest and white baggy pants with patches. He had on a small, red cap. I couldn't believe who the last person was: She had brown hair and gray eyes. It was Hazel!

"Hey!" Hazel shouted. "Back away from my sister!" She had her wand out. That reminded me, I had left mine at home. Heh.

"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you?" Jafar asked as he turned to face Sora, Hazel, and the other person. "Back you your hole, street rats. I will not allow you to trouble these girls anymore."

"Jasmine!" the new person yelled.

"I'm so sorry, Aladdin," Jasmine said. She tried to walk toward them, but Jafar stopped her.

I summoned _Radiant Sky_ and pointed it at Jafar. The thing was I didn't know what spell to use.

Hazel beat me to it, though. She raised her wand and shouted, "**Stupefy**!" A red beam of light flew out of her wand. A Shadow appeared in front of the spell and took the blow.

A red parrot flew to Jafar, an ancient looking oil lamp in its talons. It dropped the lamp into the sorcerer's hand and landed on his shoulder.

Aladdin looked aghast and felt in his pocket. "No…" he murmured. That lamp held value to him and Jafar, but why?

Jafar rubbed the lamp and said, "Genie, bring Jasmine to me!" A large, bright blue man with a ghostly-looking tail instead of legs came from the lamp. His face was downcast.

"Genie, no!" Aladdin shouted.

"I'm sorry, Al," Genie said as he picked up Jasmine in his arms. I tried to get her down, but he was too high for me to reach. This was one of those times that I hated being short.

Genie carried Jasmine over to a pot and dumped her unceremoniously inside. The jar grew legs and stood up. Was it a Heartless?

"And now," Jafar said, "I bid you all farewell. Attack!"

Another jar grew legs, and an enormous beetle head and what looked like its bum blasted out of two more jars. They were both blue, and the head had the same heart insignia on it. The bug was arranged like a centipede, but had those pots for the body.

Sora and Aladdin pulled out their weapons and started attacking the bug. Donald and Goofy went to work on the pots surrounding us.

Hazel stood next to me, her wand at the ready. "Hey, Ari, where's your wand?"

"I don't need it now," I said. I raised _Radiant Sky_. "I've got this."

"You're going to tell me everything as soon as this is over." It wasn't a question.

I ran to where Sora and Aladdin were. I jumped up and struck the Heartless with my Keyblade. Again, I wondered how in the world I could do that when I had just gotten my Keyblade two days before.

I didn't ponder on it. I focused on the Heartless, raised my Keyblade, and shouted, "**Flipendo**!" It was the knockback jinx. The centipede flew into the woodpile and smashed it, sending planks and splinters everywhere.

Sora, Aladdin, and I chased after the Heartless, Hazel, Donald, and Goofy a couple of meters behind us. Aladdin reached the giant centipede first and tried to hit the pots, where I could hear Jasmine crying out for Aladdin. Aladdin's attack bounced off the pots.

Blue light gathered on the Heartless' antennae. It fizzled. The antennae whipped toward us. Sora and Aladdin jumped out of the way, but got hit in the arm. I felt a shock jump through it. I few back a few feet and landed on my back.

"Ari!" Hazel shouted.

I pulled out one of the green bottles of potion. I pulled out the stopper and drank its contents. Immediately, I felt rejuvenated. Yuffie wasn't lying.

I stood up and ran toward the Heartless, _Radian Sky_ raised. As soon as I reached it, more pot Heartless appeared. I sent the flying – literally – with **Wingardium Leviosa**.

I struck the centipede. Sora jumped over me and struck downward. The Heartless exploded in a flash of light, a large, pink, crystalline heart rising to the sky.

After it vanished, I looked around, expecting Jasmine to be there. But she wasn't. Instead, we heard a cold, sinister laugh echoing around us.

"To the desert!" Aladdin shouted frantically. We ran to the entrance to the desert and past the gate to a wide, open expanse of the dry, sandy (and hot) desert.

There was a small, ornate rug flying around us frantically. Okay, how could a rug be flying and frantic? But then again, how could there be talking chipmunks? The rug waved its tassels around, as if beckoning us to follow it.

"Come on!" Aladdin said as the rug lowered and straightened itself out. He, Sora, Donald, and Goofy climbed on. There was barely enough room for the four of them to stay on.

Hazel pulled something that looked like a toothpick out of her pocket. She waved her wand and said, "**Engorgio**." The toothpick turned into a broom. It was her _Lightningbolt_. She put her leg over it and beckoned me to do the same.

We lifted off and flew like lighting to a dark cloud near the edge of the horizon. Why did that place seem to be radiating darkness? We reached the place of darkness after maybe fifteen minutes. It didn't matter: It felt much longer than that.

Rocks surrounded the place, and there were two ways in: by a certain bath or by air, which we took. When we landed, Hazel shrank her broom and put it into her pocket. That was when it appeared.

A giant head, one that looked like a tiger's, burst out of the sand. It looked to be made out of the same stuff that we saw for the last fifteen minutes or so: sand. Its eyes were glowing purple. Heartless appeared all around us.

"Ari, let's go after the eyes!" Sora said, whipping his Keyblade out and running to the tiger head.

"What?" I asked. "How do I do that?"

"Um, try to jump onto its mane thing!" He jumped up and tried to climb up while the head was shaking.

"I'll try!" I said as I summoned my Keyblade. I ran to the side of the tiger's head and climbed up. It wasn't easy, what with it being made out of sand. I struck one of the glowing purple eyes. To my right, I saw Sora doing the same thing.

Light gathered in the eye I was striking. Then it shot out. I ran to the side, but the beam followed me and hit my right shoulder. I grunted and shrugged off the pain. I started striking the eye again.

The tiger head bowed. I tried to hang onto something, but I couldn't. I fell off and landed on my back on the sand.

"Ari!" Hazel shouted.

"I'm okay!" I replied. I stood up and blocked a strike from a large, round Heartless with my Keyblade. I tried to strike its front, but _Radiant Sky_ rebounded off. The Heartless suddenly exploded. Goofy was right behind it, shield in hand. We nodded to each other and went our separate ways: Goofy went to help Aladdin, and I ran back to the head.

I climbed up the side of the tiger head. I started striking the left eye when I reached it. Sora struck the right eye one more time. The head jerked, the eyes turned yellow, the Heartless disappeared, and all became still.

"Let's go!" Aladdin shouted. He climbed into the tiger's mouth and ran down the stairs that had appeared. Sora and I climbed in after him, Hazel, Donald, and Goofy right behind us. We walked into an enormous cavern.

**A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter. And now, to the thank yous!**

**Thank you to:  
Lady of Blatant Sarcasm**: Thank you for your review! Yes, I have thought of Riku/Ari, but we'll see how the story rolls out. I'm serious, this thing writes itself. I'm just writing it down. Thank you for putting this on your favorites and alerts!


	6. Wonders of a Cave

**I've already written chapter eight and am working on chapter nine, but I want to be ahead of myself in case I get writer's block, which I hope will never happen. I probably just jinxed it.**

**Do I have to? Okay. I do not own anything in this chapter except for Ariana and Hazel.**

Chapter Six: Wonders of a Cave

The cavern we stood in was enormous. It was dark, and there was water all around us. We stood on a rocky platform with stairs leading into the water. Sora and Aladdin jumped right into the water. Donald and Goofy were right behind them.

"C'mon!" Donald said.

"Just wait a second!" Hazel responded. She pointed her wand at herself and said, "**Impervius**." She did the same to me. Then she did a cannon ball into the water. I simply walked down the stairs. The sensation I experienced was very strange. My clothes and hair billowed out around me, but I didn't get wet.

We reached a small waterfall that was going down, and we fell over it. The next room was just like what we had been in. We kept swimming through the rooms. Occasionally, we saw statues. Aladdin would send his small monkey, Abu, to them. Then the monkey would trigger something, enabling us to go further down.

Just when I was starting to get tired, we climbed up some stairs and into the next room. It was much brighter than the others. Gold coins, crowns, statues, and other things were piled high on either side of the hall. Donald looked around, a strange look in his eyes. He seemed to be smiling.

"Let's go!" Aladdin said.

We ran past the gold room and into the next one. This room was large and circular and was about as light as it was in the last room. There were three raised platforms placed in a triangular form. They were set against the wall. Jafar, Jasmine, and Genie were in this room. There was a fourth person who had her back to us. The figure had on a black cloak and held a scepter with a green orb set on the top. She also had horn-like protrusions sticking out of the top of her head. She turned her head part-ways. I could see that her skin was ivory, the whites of her eyes yellow.

"Wait a second," Sora said, "are you Maleficent?"

The strange woman disappeared. Behind where she had stood was a large keyhole set into the wall. Jafar stood in front of it, Jasmine lying next to him, unconscious. Genie was floating on the other side of the vizier.

"Jafar," Aladdin shouted, "let Jasmine go!"

"Not a chance," the sorcerer said. "You see, she's a princess, one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

"Open…" Goofy said.

"… the door?" Donald finished.

"But you won't live to see what lies beyond it," Jafar said. I loved how he explained everything to us. "Genie! My second wish. Crush them!"

The large, blue man was slumped over.

"Genie, no!" Aladdin shouted.

"Sorry, Al," Genie said, absolutely miserable. "The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

Jafar raised his staff towards the keyhole. A wall of light appeared in front of it and disappeared, leaving a shimmering wall in front of it. The same happened to the door behind us. It looked like he was creating barriers.

Sora charged right at the sorcerer, swinging his Keyblade at him. Aladdin was right behind him, sword raised. I was about to run after them, but a blue fist came my way. I ducked and redirected my attention to Genie.

"I'm sorry," he said as he shot a barrage of ice shards at me.

I heard Hazel shout, "**Protego**!" A translucent shield appeared in front of me. The ice shards hit the shield, making it ripple. The shield disappeared.

I ran toward Jafar, who had just hit Sora with a beam of red light. The vizier's back was to me, so I had the element of surprise.

Jafar flew into the air without a broom, far higher than any of us could reach. I pointed my Keyblade at him and shouted, "**Flipendo**!" Jafar flew out of my spell's reach, but right into Sora's Keyblade. The sorcerer landed on the ground. Sora, Aladdin, and I struck him. He turned black: his skin, his clothes and his eyes. I heard him cry out before he disappeared.

We climbed up onto the platform where Jasmine lay, still unconscious. Genie was nowhere to be found.

All of a sudden, Jafar floated down from the ceiling, his staff in one hand, Genie's golden lamp in the other. "Genie!" Jafar shouted. "My final wish! Make me an all-powerful Genie!"

Genie reappeared. He pointed his finger at Jafar and put his other hand over his eyes. Sparkling light shot out of Genie's finger and hit the sorcerer. Jafar grew, and as he was growing, he turned into a red version of Genie, except his face was more sinister, and his eyes were yellow. Jafar grew so large that the floor beneath him crumbled. He floated down to the room below, which had platforms that rose and sank. A pool of lava surrounded them.

"I'll stay here," I said. "I'll make sure Jafar doesn't try anything with Jasmine."

"Aw," Goofy said, "he won't try nothin'."

"You don't know that," Donald said.

"Keep her safe," Aladdin said before he turned and jumped into the large hole. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hazel followed.

I watched as Sora jumped onto one of the rising pillars and struck a red bird who held a black lamp. Hazel tried to cast spells on Jafar, but he swatted them away. Donald shot ice shards at the parrot. Goofy ran around, trying to protect everyone from meteors that Jafar threw. Aladdin slashed at the parrot with a fury I had never seen before.

Behind me, I heard a groan. Jasmine was waking up. "Where are we, Ari?" the princess asked.

"We're in the Cave of Wonders. Everyone else is in there, fighting Jafar." I winced when Donald got hit with a meteor.

I heard Jasmine gasp, and then I felt someone shove me forcefully toward the hole. I rolled once and fell over the side, back first. I screamed. I saw a little bit of silver hair above me, and then it disappeared.

"I've got you!" Sora shouted.

I collided with something, hard, but it wasn't very painful. I was lying on top of something. Or rather _someone_. I stood up quickly and saw that I had landed on Sora's back. Oops.

"Which side are you on, anyways?" Sora asked jokingly as he sat up.

"Yours, I think," I replied. I offered him my hand. He took it, and I pulled him up.

"We have to hit Iago, the parrot," Sora said as he picked up his Keyblade.

"Right!" I summoned _Radiant Sky_. Sora and I were on top of the tallest and largest pillar. The parrot, Iago, flew toward us, the black lamp in his talons. We attacked the lamp together. I hit Iago with a blow that knocked him out of the air. Sora caught the black lamp.

"Okay, Jafar," Sora said, "back to your lamp!" A swirling vortex sprang up from the black lamp and enveloped Jafar's red, ghostly tail and pulled the red genie into it. As he was sucked in, Jafar grabbed Iago's tail feathers. The two disappeared inside the lamp, hopefully forever.

The flying rug from earlier flew down to meet us. The boys all climbed onto it. Hazel pulled out her _Lightningbolt_. We flew back to where Jasmine was, where I hoped she'd be.

She wasn't there. Aladdin jumped off the carpet and looked around frantically for the princess. "Jasmine?" he asked desperately. "Jasmine!"

Sora pointed his Keyblade at the large keyhole. Blue light gathered at the tip and flowed into the hole. Brilliant light flowed from the keyhole. When it ended, a large wall formed in front of the hole, and I could hear a clicking sound, like a lock clicking into place.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"That means that the Keyhole's locked," Sora said. "Now, this world can't get destroyed by the darkness."

Aladdin looked frantically for Jasmine. All of a sudden, the ground started to shake. Pebbles fell from the ceiling.

"We've gotta go!" Sora said, pulling on Aladdin's arm. All six of us crowded onto the carpet, all of us standing. Sora and I kept our Keyblades out to get rid of any falling rocks.

The rug flew at breakneck speeds, as if it knew getting out was important. It probably did. From what I had seen so far, an intelligent rug wouldn't be too far-fetched.

We flew through a cold, dark tunnel. It was hard to see the stalagmites and stalactites. Rocks randomly fell from the ceiling. Sora sliced through the ones that came his way, while I knocked them aside with **Flipendo**.

We reached the end of the tunnel, where the floor fell away to lava. The carpet flew higher, into an opening near the ceiling. The next tunnel had lava instead of ground. Arches extended to the end of the tunnel, the tops falling toward us. The carpet avoided them all. Each tunnel looked the same, but for each new one, the lava level was higher.

We flew into a more complicated tunnel that had a few turns. It had columns that held up the roof. When we reached the end of that tunnel, we were met with a dark sky and fresh air. I looked behind us. The enormous tiger head was sinking into the sand. The carpet flew rapidly back to Agrabah.

* * *

"So, Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah," Aladdin said as we all stood around in his house later on. "Sora, Hazel, let's go find her."

"Sorry," Sora said, "we can't take you with us." Hazel looked at him incredulously.

"Wh-Why not?" Aladdin asked.

"I sure wish we could…" Goofy said.

"But we can't," Donald said. "If we take him to another world, we would be…"

"Muh…" Goofy stumbled, "Mudd-"

"Meddling!"

"Aladdin, we'll find Jasmine," Sora said. "I promise."

"So do I," Hazel and I said together.

"Come on, Al," my sister said, "we spent two good days together. We'll find her."

"Uh, earth to Al," Genie said, thumping Aladdin on the back. "Hello, You still have two wishes left. Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you."

"But I promised Hazel that I would help her look for her family." Aladdin looked up. "Genie, for my second wish, I wish that Hazel will find her family. And for my third wish… I wish for your freedom, Genie."

"Al!" Purple light swirled around Genie. It kind of exploded. Genie looked different. He had legs with what looked like royal blue pants on. The gold cuffs on his wrists disappeared.

"A deal's a deal, Genie," Aladdin said, "even though I used my second wish. Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master. But if you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help Sora and Hazel find Jasmine."

Genie turned his back to us. "Sorry, Al. I'm done taking orders from others." There was silence. "But…" He turned back to us, a large grin plastered on his face. "A favor, now that's entirely different. I guess I could give that a try."

I smiled.

"After all," Genie continued, "we're pals, right Al?" He put his large arm around Aladdin's shoulders.

"Genie…" Aladdin whispered.

"Just leave it to me!" Genie winked.

Aladdin smiled. He reached into his pocket and said, "Here. Take this with you." He handed a Keychain to Sora, much like the chains on our Keyblades. "Sora, Hazel, please find Jasmine for me."

"We will," I said confidently.

We all left, except for Aladdin. Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped out of Aladdin's window. I grabbed the pole and slid down on it. After we all landed on the sandy street of Agrabah, Donald led us to a secluded, abandoned room.

Donald pulled out a small device that looked a little like a Muggle telephone. "Chip, Dale," Donald quacked. "Beam us up!" My body turned fuzzy, as did everyone else's. The next thing I saw was the glass wall inside the Gummy ship.

"Hi, guys," Chip said.

"How'd it go?" Dale asked.

"I think it went well," Goofy said.

Sora pulled a page out of his pocket. "Hey, isn't this a page from Merlin's torn book?"

"Let's return to town and give it to him," Goofy said.

"Wait," I said. "Did you say Merlin?"

"As in _the_ Merlin?" Hazel asked. "Merlin the Wizard?"

"How many other Merlins are there?" Sora asked.

"Well," Hazel said, "he's known on our world as a very famous wizard. He's a legend."

"The Merlin we know is from the same world as Leon," Donald said.

"Let's go back to Traverse Town so that you can meet him," Sora said.

**A/N: And there's another chapter. How will the meeting go?**


	7. Books and Wizards

**I know it's been a little while, but I've been working a little on the Atlantica chapters some. I'm not used to writing underwater battles. Also, I've been busy with my other fanfictions, and I have to have access to a computer and YouTube to write.**

**_IMPORTANT! - _Do you guys think that I should put this story under Kingdom Hearts so that other people can enjoy it? You can vote on my poll.  
**

**Disclaimer: THE DAY I OWN HARRY POTTER AND KINGDOM HEARTS IS THE DAY THAT I BECOME RULER OF THE WORLD!**

Chapter Seven: Books and Wizards

Previously…

"_Hi, guys," Chip said._

"_How'd it go?" Dale asked._

"_I think it went well," Goofy said._

_Sora pulled a page out of his pocket. "Hey, isn't this a page from Merlin's torn book?"_

"_Let's return to town and give it to him," Goofy said._

"_Wait," I said. "Did you say Merlin?"_

"_As in the Merlin?" Hazel asked. "Merlin the Wizard?"_

"_How many other Merlins are there?" Sora asked._

"_Well," Hazel said, "he's known on our world as a very famous wizard. He's a legend."_

"_The Merlin we know is from the same world as Leon," Donald said._

"_Let's go back to Traverse Town so that you can meet him," Sora said._

_

* * *

_

We sat down in our seats in the cockpit, Hazel right next to me. "Prepare for warp drive!" Donald said at the controls.

"Wait, warp drive?" I asked. "Why didn't we do that before?"

"We can only warp drive to places we've already been," the duck replied. "We should be there in about ten minutes."

I felt myself getting pushed back in my seat. Outside, the stars turned into lines of light.

Hazel turned to me. "So, have you found anyone else from our world yet?" She was asking about Orion.

"No, I haven't," I said.

"You'll find them," Sora reassured. "I found Riku already, so surely I'll find Kairi. And Aladdin wished for you to find your family. You found each other already."

"True enough." I spent the remainder of the ten minutes explaining to Hazel everything I knew about the Heartless and the journey that I had been on, Sora and Goofy correcting me or adding on to what I said. Soon enough, we landed just outside of Traverse Town.

Chip and Dale said that they could teleport us to Merlin's house if we wanted them to. Hazel had a bright smile on her face. She was definitely excited. So was I.

After we teleported, we landed in a room that was a little small and circular. There was a raised, circular platform in the middle of the room that had a table and some chairs and a set of stairs built into the side of the platform. There was a large mound of books in one part and a bed near that. Between the two was a stand with a book on it.

"Hazel, you, Goofy, and I can wait for Merlin," Donald said. Hazel's face lit up even more, if that were possible.

"Ari, come with me," Sora said, "into the book."

"Okay…" I said slowly, wondering if he was feeling all right.

The spiky-haired boy grabbed m hand and pulled me to the book. He opened it, and there was a flash of light. When I opened my eyes, I was standing on what looked like a giant map with a crease in the center. Wait, this was the interior of the book!"

Sora pulled me to a spot on the right book page. There was another flash of light, and we were standing at the edge of a meadow with a log in the center. There was something small, red, and yellow sitting on it. We walked to it, and saw that it, or rather _he_, was a yellow teddy bear with a red shirt sitting on the log. The bear had a paw to his head.

"Think, think," he said. "Think, think."

"Hi there," Sora said when we reached the bear. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the bear said. "Just thinking."

"Oh."

"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh."

"Pooh?" I asked.

"Yes?" the bear asked.

"Wait a second," Sora said. "You're Pooh?"

"Yes. I'm Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short. Who are you two?"

"I'm Sora."

"I'm Ari," I said. Sora and I sat on the either side of the bear.

"Oh. Hello, Sora and Ari. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?"

"Why would we say goodbye?" I asked. "We just met."

"Because everyone's gone away," Pooh said.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Well," Pooh said, "we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. And we'd take walks together or play Pooh sticks… And every day, I'd eat some honey. Just one small smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone."

I felt my heart go out to the teddy bear. I knew what it was like to lose all friends.

"All my friends," Pooh continued, "and my favorite Hunny tree, too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think… So who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well."

"You won't," I said. "We'll find your friends."

"Thank you, Ari," he said. He got off the log we were sitting on and put his paws on his stomach. "Oh, my tumbly is getting rather rumbly." Pooh walked off, leaving Sora and me sitting on the log.

"I think we can find Pooh's friends when we find the pages to this book," Sora said. "I feel bad for him."

"So do I," I said. "Let's go and find those pages."

Sora and I left the meadow and walked to the large tree on the left page. After a flash of light, we were suddenly in a forest with a wide path, leading to… somewhere. At the end was a large tree with a door built just under the trunk. Sora pushed open the door.

Inside, Pooh was sitting on a large, light blue rug with a pot held to his face.

"Oh, bother," he said. "There's no more honey left. If only the Hunny Tree would visit… Then I could eat my fill." The poor teddy bear!

Sora and I walked outside. There was a large, brown owl standing next to a small pile of burned wood.

"Let me guess," the owl said. "You'd like to know what happens next. Unfortunately, some of the pages are missing, so I can't tell you yet. The pages are scattered over many worlds. Would you find them for us?"

"Sure!" I said.

Sora and I left the book. I was eager to meet the Great Merlin.

There was a flash of light, and Sora and I stood in Merlin's house again. Hazel, Donald, and Goofy stood around the table on the raised platform. An old man with a long white beard and light blue robe and hat sat at the table.

"Ah," Merlin said, "you must be Ariana. From what Hazel told me, you too are a Keyblade wielder?"

All I could do was nod.

"It's nice to meet you my dear."

That sent me into hyper drive. "Omygosh, omygosh, omygosh!" I can't believe I'm meeting _the_ Merlin! Can I learn some magic from you? Please?"

The wizard chuckled. "That was your sister's reaction. I teach Sora how to use elemental magic. Perhaps you and Hazel would like to learn that type of magic?"

"Yes!" Hazel and I shouted in unison.

* * *

Two hours and many burn and messed up hair incidents after that, Hazel and I stepped confidently out of Merlin's house. We had learned Fire and Thunder. I learned quickly to use that magic sparingly as it used up a lot of my energy. Hazel felt the same way, but she felt that it was necessary to learn if she ever lost her wand, which I thought was unlikely.

Hazel, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I walked around out of the cave that Merlin's house was in and into the Third District of Traverse Town, looking for the friends we had made here.

"I think they're up in the First District," Goofy said. He and Donald led us to a large set of double doors across a large square.

I heard a familiar sound, the same one that the Emblem Heartless made when they appeared. I turned around and gasped when I saw a large purple Heartless with a huge spherical body and a small helmet with its yellow eyes peeking out from underneath. Around it were three smaller Heartless that had purple armor and silver cone-shaped helmets. I could see their yellow eyes glowing.

I summoned _Radiant Sky_, and not for the first time, the grip on it was uncomfortable. I couldn't understand why. I held it exactly like Sora did. I ignored my discomfort and caught up with my friends.

Goofy and I ran to the Large Body Heartless. Immediately, I tried to strike it from the front. My blow deflected, and my Keyblade flew out of my hand. I backed up so that I could catch it. I caught it, but the grip felt strange. As a matter of fact, it felt comfortable. I looked at the blade. It was facing the opposite direction in a reverse grip.

Goofy had the Heartless distracted. I ran behind it and started striking it. Yeah, this was **much** better.

After we defeated the Large Body, I collected the blue and yellow squares, which I had learned before were called munny. Sora had explained that I could use the munny to buy things like potions and ethers (used to restore magic) from little pink, flying creatures called Moogles.

"Now we can go," Donald said.

"Come on," I said. "I want you to meet Yuffie and Aerith."

We walked through the large double doors, and to my surprise, I saw Yuffie and Aerith as soon as we walked through.

"Hey!" I shouted, running to them, Hazel was right behind me.

"Ari!" Yuffie shouted, waving.

"Hello, again, Ari," Aerith said. "Who's this?" She indicated Hazel.

"This is my sister, Hazel," I said. "You were right, Aerith. All I had to do was believe that I would find my family. That, and someone wished for us to find our family."

"Well, that was sweet of them."

"Come on!" Yuffie said. "I didn't finish your tour of Traverse Town!"

"Oh, that's right," I said. "Well, let's go!"

The four of us spent the next couple of hours walking around Traverse Town talking about ourselves and generally getting to know each other. A few times, we encountered Heartless, but we made quick work of those, Yuffie using her Shuriken and Aerith using her staff.

Later, we stopped by the inn where Leon was sitting. Aerith walked into the kitchen, saying something about making barley tea.

"So this is Hazel," Leon said.

"This is Squall," Yuffie said.

"For the last time," Leon said, exasperated, "it's _Leon_!"

"Whatever, Squall."

Leon groaned.

At that moment, Aerith walked in with five glasses and a pitcher on a tray. "Here you go!" she said cheerfully. She poured the tea into the glasses and handed them to us.

"No thanks," Leon said.

I didn't know why Leon resisted. I took a sip of the tea. My eyes widened. This tea sure did have a… _peculiar_ taste*****. Hazel didn't think so. She was gulping down her barley tea. As soon as she was done with her glass, she leaned over to me.

"Are you going to finish that?" she asked. I shook my head, and Hazel picked up my glass happily and downed that, too.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked in with Merlin behind them. I felt the urge to bow at the wizard, but Merlin had insisted earlier that I shouldn't.

"Hey, it's time to go," Donald said. He started to pull out his communicator but stopped when Merlin started speaking.

"Now, there's no need to do that, my fine, feathered friend." The legend rolled up his sleeves. "I can just send you there myself." I heard Hazel let out a hushed squeal. Over Merlin's shoulder, I saw Leon shaking his head. Merlin waved his hands, sparks flying out of his fingertips. The sparks surrounded us. There was a tingling sensation all over my body.

All of a sudden, the five of us were in a massive room with an extremely high ceiling, giant structures, and a huge silver floor. It looked strangely familiar…

"That was so _cool_!" Hazel shouted, but her voice sounded oddly high pitched.

"Hey, Hazel," Goofy asked, but he sounded oddly like Dale the chipmunk. "What's wrong with your voice?" Then he gasped and clapped his hands over his mouth. "Gawrsh, what's wrong with **my **voice?"

Sora and I burst out laughing. That sure did sound hilarious. It sounded like he and Hazel had been inhaling helium. Then I pointed at Sora as I heard his laughing while he pointed at me. That just made me laugh even harder. Hazel and Goofy joined in while Donald looked sour.

"Aw, phooey," Donald said, but it took me a moment to figure out what he said because I couldn't really understand him.

I then looked around the enormous room and finally put the pieces together. Merlin had made us **tiny**!

"Hey," I said, trying not to burst out laughing at the sound my squeaky voice. "We're tiny! That's why it sounds like we've been sucking helium for hours!"

"Awesome!" Hazel said. "We're midgets!"

* * *

**Thank you to:  
Safire Ranmako for putting this on your alerts and favorites  
and WereRanga for putting this on your alerts.**


	8. A Whale of a Tale

**Oh, man. I am so sorry for not posting this sooner. I'm not going to say anything, except for Enjoy the chapter!**

**I don't own anything except for my own OCs and Keyblades.  
**

Chapter Eight: A Whale of a Tale

Hazel, Sora, Goofy, and I were in what Sora had deemed the "training room", AKA, where Sora and I did our first training together. Hazel was giving Sora some lessons in magic (she had more experience), and Goofy was teaching me a few things about defense.

"Okay, Ari," Goofy said, "I'm gonna attack, and you block."

I nodded. That was all I could do. I had laughed and shouted myself hoarse the previous day. The midget situation had me laughing for hours. Afterwards, Hazel had kept me at miniature size so that she could play dress-up with me. I shuddered at the memory. Bright yellow was not my favorite color.

Goofy came running at me, his navy shield held vertically. I held up _Radiant Sky_ in defense, returning to the normal grip (**still** uncomfortable). Goofy's shield clanged off the blade of my Keyblade. Goofy's arm jiggled from the shock.

"A-hyuck!" Goofy said. "Good job!"

"Thanks," I tried to say, but it came out as a hoarse whisper.

"You're welcome!" Luckily for me, Goofy could lip read.

Goofy and I walked out of the training room and to the cockpit, where Donald sat in the pilot's seat and had a joystick in his right wing. Hazel and Sora walked in after us. I looked around the empty cosmos until I saw what looked like a speck right in front of us. Then, it turned a large, light blue circle.

"What is that?" Donald asked.

"Wow, it's huge!" Sora exclaimed.

Huge it was and steadily getting closer. It didn't look like any kind of world. It turned slightly to the side, and I could see a tail from behind it, fins, and a giant mouth with a large, pink tongue.

"It looks like a giant whale," I hoarsely said.

"I didn't think whales could be so big," Hazel said.

The whale flew/swam above the Gummi ship. It was much larger than I had first imagined.

"It's Monstro!" Jiminy said from Sora's hood. "He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!"

The whale, Monstro, flew back into our view. It looked like he was turning around. Donald veered the controls, trying to get away from the whale.

"Too late!" Chip and Dale shouted in unison.

"He's going to swallow us!" Sora shouted.

Monstro opened his mouth wide so that he could probably swallow ten Gummi ships, no problem. When we flew in, the ship rocked violently. I fell against the floor, and then everything turned black.

I slowly opened my eyes. They flew open when I inhaled through my nose. The smell… It smelled like vomit, to put it bluntly. Everything was dark. The ceiling looked like no other ceiling that I had seen. Then I remembered: a space whale swallowed us. Who can ever say that? I sat up and looked around. I was in a cavern that had purple walls and ceiling and had colorful spots everywhere. After a minute of staring at them, I noticed that the spots twitched every few seconds. Ew.

Where was everyone else? "Hazel?" I asked, but it came out as a croak. "Sora? Anyone there?"

I stood up and started walking, hoping that I would find at least _one_ familiar face in this stinky and twitchy space whale. Finally, I did find a face, but it wasn't familiar. It was a boy who looked about a year older than me. He had messy silver hair that almost touched his shoulders and aquamarine eyes. He wore a yellow form-fitting shirt that was black on the back with two black strips crossing on the front, blue pants, black gloves, and black shoes. Another thing, he was taller than me by at least three inches.

"Who're you?" I croaked.

"What?" the boy asked. I pointed at him and tilted my head, hoping that he would get the message. "Oh, 'who are you?' right?" I nodded. "Riku. What's your name?"

I ignored his question. This was Riku, one of Sora's friends! I gasped.

"What?" Riku asked.

"You're Riku," I whispered. "I'm Ariana, but you can call me Ari. I happen to know Sora. I recognize his description of you."

"How do you know Sora?"

"We've been traveling together for a few days." I walked closer to Sora's missing friend. "You wouldn't happen to know where Kairi is, do you?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go get her!"

"She won't wake up," Riku said, his eyes looking at his shoes.

"That's terrible," I croaked. "Why won't she wake up?"

"She lost her heart to the darkness that invaded the islands. Why would you or Sora care?"

"Don't say that. After Sora's talked so much about you two, he got me to caring about you. And as for him, he cares about the both of you, too. A lot."

Riku turned away, his arms crossed. "Ari, I need your help with something."

"Riku, don't-"

"It's a way to get back Kairi's heart. I'm trying to find a puppet by the name of Pinocchio."

I tilted my head questioningly. Riku nodded. "O…kay. Why do you need a puppet?"

"It possesses a heart. I think that I can use it to wake Kairi up. It's her only chance."

"I'm not sure about that," I whispered. "I'm sure that there are other ways for her to get her heart back. If you, me, and Sora work together, then we can do it."

"I don't think so," Riku said.

"Let's look for Sora, and I'll prove he still cares."

"Fine." I could tell that Riku still wanted to find the puppet, Pinocchio, and I hoped that he would still follow me.

We started walking side-by-side through the purple, smelly room with the pulsing multi-colored spots. That was a strange thing to think. I tried not to think of the two of us walking through a space whale's intestines. Now that was a nasty thought.

Up ahead, I heard voices. Riku must have heard them as well because he stopped.

"How… gonna find…" I heard. The voice sounded familiar. Extremely familiar.

"We will," was the response. That was Sora.

"Hazel!" I shouted, or well, _tried_ to shout. I summoned _Radiant Sky_, raised it above my head, and shot red sparks out of the tip.

"Hey look!" a quacking voice said. That was Donald. "What's that red light?"

"It's Ari!" Hazel shouted. The voices were getting closer. I heard footsteps. Out of one of the tunnels ran my sister with Sora right behind her. Donald and Goofy followed not two seconds later. Behind Goofy was what looked like a small boy, but on closer inspection, I realized that he was a small, wooden puppet. He had black hair, a hat with a feather, and German clothes. Was this the puppet that Riku had been looking for? It must have been, because I thought it was the only moving puppet within a thousand miles of this space whale.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, his eyes wide as he laid eyes on his friend. "How did you get here?"

"Why do you care?" Riku asked in an accusatory tone. Uh-oh. This wasn't going smoothly. "Why do you care about Kairi and me when you have four new friends and that Keyblade of yours?"

"Riku, don't talk like that!" Sora exclaimed. "Wait… Kairi!" Have you found her?"

I was about to confirm it, but Riku spoke. "Maybe. Catch us, and I'll tell you what I know." Riku ran past me, knocked Donald and Goofy over (the former quacking indignantly), and scooped Pinocchio the puppet into his arms. He ran into one of the tunnels.

Sora ran after him, but Heartless appeared around us. They looked like ghosts from a Muggle horror film. They had ashen gray faces, yellow eyes with one eye hanging out, crooked mouths, and ghostly tails. They wore dark gray shirts with the familiar Heartless emblem on the front.

Sora and I summoned our Keyblades and struck the ghosts. Hazel whipped out her wand and cast **Protego** on all of us. She then proceeded to send Stunning spells at the ghost-like Heartless. Donald pulled out his staff and blasted a ghost with lightning. Goofy pulled out his shield and spun in a circle, sending Heartless flying.

Five minutes later, we stood in the intestine chamber (gross), alone. "Let's go!" Sora said urgently.

We sprinted down the tunnel Riku had run through. On the other side was a chamber that looked very similar to the one we were just in: purple, pulsing, squishy, and smelly. This time, there was a ledge that we could fall off. I didn't want to think about where it went.

I don't think I could bother you with the details, because I had no idea where we were going. We finally reached a cavern that was smaller than the others we had been in. Riku was there, his back to us. He put Pinocchio on the squishy ground and watched the puppet run into the next tunnel.

"Riku!" Sora said. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Riku replied. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days." Sora looked down at his right hand. "Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"I do," Sora said.

In the distance, I heard a scream. Riku turned toward the tunnel that was behind him. All six of us ran to that tunnel where the scream had come from. The chamber on the other end was large and circular. The walls were blue and purple. In the center of the room, which was slightly below us, was a large purple thing. The top part was small, light purple, had yellow eyes, and a crooked mouth. It had two greenish blue tendrils that had mouths on the end coming out from its sides. The bottom part was darker purple and much larger than the top. This part had a face as well, and its mouth looked like bars on a cage. The Heartless mark was between the yellow eyes. Pinocchio was in the Heartless' mouth.

"You up for this?" Riku asked Sora.

The spiky-haired boy fell into his stance. "No problem. Let's go!"

We all ran at the Heartless. It swung its tendrils, but I ducked underneath them. I swung at the cage-like part of the Heartless. Inside, I could hear Pinocchio shouting. Sora jumped up and hit the lavender part of the creature of darkness. One of the tendrils hit him, sending him flying. I looked to my left. Riku was hardly doing anything with his sword! What was wrong with him?

Sora ran back, drew something out of his pocket, and threw it into the air. "Simba!" he shouted. Out of the stone sprang a golden-furred lion with a red mane. Simba the lion jumped at the Heartless and clawed it. He sprang back and unleashed a magnificent roar. Afterwards, he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the stone behind. What was that? I decided to ask Sora later.

I pointed _Radiant Sky_ at the lavender part of the Heartless. "**Incendio!**" I croaked, sending bluebell flames at the Heartless. It squirmed and waved its tendrils weakly. It reached up and grabbed part of the ceiling with the tendrils. A hole opened in the floor. The Heartless opened the cage part and sent Pinocchio falling through the hole. Riku jumped in right after him.

"Quick!" Hazel shouted. "After crazy boy!"

We jumped into the dark hole. Strangely, we landed on a small, wooden ship. What was this thing doing in a space whale?

An old man with white hair with his back to us stood on the edge of the small boat, shouting to something near the roof. "Pinocchio!" he shouted. "Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!"

"Sorry, old man," a familiar voice said. It wasn't one I wanted to hear: Riku's. "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet!" the man said. "Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual," Riku said. "Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs." He was talking about Kairi. Oh, the idiot!

"Wait a minute," Sora said. "Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?" Riku retorted. He turned and walked through a passage at the very top of the room.

"The idiot!" I mouthed. I turned to Sora. "This your best friend?"

"What?"

"Ari's saying that Riku's an idiot," Goofy said. "And then she asked if he's your best friend." I nodded.

"I don't know what's gotten into him," Sora said. He turned to the old man. "Geppetto, we'll find Pinocchio."

"Please make sure he's all right."

Hazel looked up to where Riku vanished. "How in the name of Merlin are we going to get up there?"

"We jump!" Donald said as if that were a stupid question.

"I can't jump that high!"

"Well," Goofy said. "There are those planks we could jump onto." Sora, Donald, and Goofy proceeded to do exactly that.

I tentatively looked over the edge of the boat and saw a clear liquid beneath the planks that the trio was jumping on. "I hope that's water," I hoarsely said.

"It isn't," Hazel said. "I can't wait to get out of this whale." I inched away from her.

"C'mon!" Donald shouted from the top.

"Coming!" Hazel shouted. She pulled out her _Lightningbolt_. We both climbed on and flew to the doorway several meters in the air. We landed on the small platform. Hazel shank her broom and put it back in her pocket.

"Let's go!" Sora said urgently.

We ran into the tunnel, which lead into a small circular room with a ceiling I couldn't see. There were small platforms that lead up to the ceiling. I wanted to try the jumping for some reason. I jumped up and barely grabbed the edge of the closest platform. I pulled myself up and jumped to the next one, which was to my right and slightly above me. I repeated the process for a couple of minutes. The thing was it greatly tired my arms. When I reached the top, my arms were throbbing so much I wasn't sure I would be able to hold a wand, much less my Keyblade.

"Ugh…" I panted. "No more climbing."

"Same here," Hazel responded.

We all walked forward. I felt an air current rising from below me. It grew so strong that I felt myself rising. I looked around and saw the others rising as well. The current deposited us on a small platform. I looked down and immediately wished I hadn't. The ground looked like a small, pink circle.

I looked up and turned around. Hazel, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were already going through the next tunnel. I raced after them, kind of unwilling because of the horrid smell.

This room was large and circular. I saw Riku standing on a large, pink platform that was kind of like an island because it was surrounded by a bright green liquid. If I had to venture a guess, I would have said that that was stomach acid. The walls were a very light purple and pulsed as I watched them. Ew. Connected to the walls were many more pink platforms.

"Hey," Sora said, "let Pinocchio go, Riku."

Pinocchio was seated near the silver-headed boy, propped up against the wall. The puppet looked really weak.

"A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless…" Riku said. "Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about Sora, Ari? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it together."

Sora summoned his Keyblade and held it to the right, crouching a little. I summoned _Radiant Sky_ in my reverse grip and held it to my side. That was our version of saying "no".

"What?" Riku asked incredulously. "You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart," Sora said, "at least he has a conscience!"

"Conscience?"

I knew what Sora meant. Jiminy. I saw the cricket hop out of Sora's hood and walk to the green goop.

"You might not hear it," Sora said, "but right now, it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice," Riku said.

Jiminy reached Pinocchio and shouted the puppet's name.

"Jiminy…" Pinocchio whispered. "I'm not gonna make it." He coughed. A small light radiated from his face. He looked up. His nose was twice as long as it normally was. Okay, what kind of puppet had a growing nose? Pinocchio smiled. "Oh! I guess I'm okay!"

Riku looked at him. Then he looked up and gasped. So did I. The Heartless from before, the cage-like one, landed on the ground in front of us, nearly crushing Riku, who was behind it. I saw a flash of dark purple, and Riku was gone.

I couldn't focus on him at the moment. I had to concentrate on the Heartless in front of me. It stood up on its tendrils and batted us with its root-like rump. I hit the squishy wall (_Ew_!) and landed on the ground. I jumped onto one of the other platforms, raised my Keyblade, and shouted, "**Flippendo**!" Light blue light flew out of _Radiant Sky_ and hit the Heartless, which knocked it over for a second. After it got up, it swung its tendrils at me. I ducked.

I had a brilliant (I hoped it was) idea. "Hazel, Sora, Donald!" I shouted. "We need to do our strongest fire spells!"

I heard three choruses of "Okay!"

"One, two three! Incendio!" Three bursts of bluebell flames erupted from three sides of the room while an enormous red fireball flew from Donald's staff. All of them hit the Heartless. Yes! It stumbled and hit me with its tentacles, sending me back into the squishy wall. _Okay,_ I thought, _After we leave this space whale, I am taking a very _long_ shower._

Sora struck the Heartless, which made it open its mouth wide. I jumped to where the Heartless was and sent blow after blow to it. Blue light emanated from its mouth. Bright blue light. It backed up and coughed out a large, pink, crystalline heart. It fell forward, making the ground shake. Light green clouds billowed from the vile smelling liquid.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. "Riku, where are you?"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the exit. "There's no time! We have to go now!"

All of us ran out, jumped to the bottom of the long tube (I had to cover my eyes), and jumped down to Geppetto's ship. Our Gummi ship was right next to it in the (**Ew!**) saliva. We climbed in, but not before leaving Pinocchio with his father.

Once we got inside the cockpit, we all buckled in. As soon as I finished that, I heard a monstrous roar and felt the Gummi ship forced to my left. Then, we shot in the opposite direction, right. Soon, I could see the stars, signaling that we were between worlds. We had finally made it out! I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay," Goofy said.

"Yeah," Donald said, "hopefully they landed safely somewhere."

"Riku…" Sora whispered.

"Hey," I said, "we'll knock some sense into him together, okay? Now, excuse me while I use all of the hot water."

**Like I said earlier, I am so sorry for the three month delay. When I say the last update date, I was like, "Oh my gosh!" I didn't really have motivation for typing this chapter, and then I have the prequel series to this which I've been working on like crazy the past few days (should have that up soon). And THEN I have another story that I've been neglecting. School has been hectic this close to the summer.**

**Any ideas would be wonderful! I have most of this mapped out, but ideas would be brilliant!  
**

**Thank you to:  
Allie X 'I for putting this in your favorites.  
**


	9. Undersea Adventures

**I know, it's been a while, but I've been gone for like, half the summer. So, what did you guys think of the last Harry Potter movie? Oh, and would someone mind helping me with Ari's Halloween Town outfit? Thanks!**

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR KINGDOM HEARTS!**

* * *

Chapter Nine: Undersea Adventures

Sora and I stood in the back room of the Gummi ship, or, as Sora called it, the training room. Sora held his Keyblade, which I found out was called the _Kingdom Key_. In his other hand, he held some Keychains, one of which I remembered from Agrabah.

"So," the brunette said, "the Keychains can change the appearance and power of you Keyblade. _Lady Luck_-" he held up a square Keychain that looked like a playing card "-makes your magic be more powerful." He held up the lamp-shaped Keychain that we got in Agrabah and pressed it to the Keyblade's current chain. In a flash of light, it changed.

This Keyblade had a blue handle and heart-shaped guard and a tan blade that turned lighter towards the end. The teeth were slightly heart-shaped and curved a little. The Keychain was Genie's lamp. I touched the handle. _Three Wishes_ echoed through my head.

Goofy walked in at that moment. "Hey, fellers!" he said cheerfully. "We're getting to a new world! This one's called Atlantica."

"I hope it's better than the space whale," I said.

The two of us followed Goofy back to the cockpit, our shoes making metallic _clinks_ on the floor. Outside the window, I saw what looked like a planet of water surrounded by a holey meteor.

"Okay, guys," Donald quacked. "Prepare for teleportation."

"In the sea?" Sora exclaimed. "We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't," the wizard responded. "Just leave it to me."

We walked to the teleportation room. I was worried. How did Donald have magic that would allow us to breathe underwater? The only ways I could think of that would do that were Gillyweed and a Bubble-headed Charm.

When Chip and Dale the chipmunks teleported us to the new world, I felt a strange sensation in my legs. All of a sudden, I felt something pressing against my body. And then I realized: Water was pressing against my body. I felt my brown hair wave around. I opened my eyes.

I was floating in a cavern, coral of various colors growing on it. I looked down and gasped. I didn't have legs anymore. Instead, I had a tail that was covered with purple fish scales. The top half of my body was still the same, but I wore a different top. It was a sapphire blue halter-top that tied behind my neck with light blue straps. It covered my front (well, it would if it didn't billow up, revealing my stomach) and left much of my back bare, except for a light blue strap that came across my back just below my shoulder blades. My pendant seemed to be missing.

Hazel had a pink tail a lot like mine, except that it was an inch or so longer. Her top was a dark pink bikini halter-top with a strap that tied behind her neck and another that crossed her back. Strapped to her left forearm, she had a wand holder. She could reach with her right arm and pull it out.

Sora had a navy blue dolphin tail with a dorsal fin on the back. He was shirtless and seemed to be missing his crown pendant.

Donald was shirtless as well and had blue octopus tentacles that were yellow underneath instead of his webbed feet. He was missing his blue, zippered hat. Wait, where did he keep his staff?

Goofy had changed into a sea turtle, but his head stayed the same, including his hat. Where was his shield?

"This is weird," Hazel said. "I never knew that there was this kind of magic. Wait… Why are you all upside down except for Donald?"

"Hazel," I said, "you're the one that's upside down."

"Oh." She swung her arms around and eventually righted herself.

I heard voices. "Come on, Sebastian!" a young woman's voice called.

And then I heard a Jamaican voice next. "Ariel, wait! Slow down! Don't leave me behind!" A crab nearly swam into Donald's still upside-down face.

A girl a couple years older than me swam into the cavern. She had a tail covered with green scales instead of legs and a purple seashell top. Her eyes were light blue and her long hair was as red as Sora's shorts.

A small fish floated next to the girl. He was yellow and had blue fins. He had four stripes on his back.

Donald righted himself, and the rest of us tried to swim to the newcomers. Hazel failed. Somehow, she managed to get herself upside down again.

"Relax, Sebastian," the girl said. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?" The girl, Ariel, I think, turned to the fish.

"I don't know," Flounder said in a small voice. "There's something weird about them."

"There's nothing weird about us _at all_," Hazel said as she drifted past me, still upside down.

Donald was still glaring at Sebastian, arms crossed. Goofy and Flounder seemed to be having a staring contest.

Sora laughed nervously. "We're from kind of far away. And we're not really used to the waters." He chuckled nervously. Oh, he was a terrible liar.

"Yeah," Hazel piped up as she looked around the cave nervously. "We're from uh… Arisoha? We always swim like this."

_Arisoha?_ I mouthed.

Hazel pointed at me, then at Sora and then at herself.

"Oh, I see," Ariel said. "In that case… Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

"Ariel," the crab protested, "King Triton will not like this!"

"Oh, don't worry," the mermaid replied.

"Easy for you to say…" The crab turned to us. "Okay, it's time for you to lean how to swim properly."

After ten minutes of flailing around with my arms, I thought I had the hang of swimming with a tail. The mer-tail was for propulsion, and my arms could be used for steering. For practice, I chased Flounder around the cavern.

Sora had nearly perfected this new style of swimming after five minutes. He explained that he had spent many long days swimming in the ocean surrounding his home world, Destiny Islands. He and I started a game about who could catch Flounder first. Sora won.

"Good," Sebastian said. "Now let's move onto self-defense –"

"Sebastian!" Ariel cried, pointing to the tunnel she, Flounder, and Sebastian had come from. From it, I could see six squid-like figures, but they only had two tentacles each. The Heartless insignia was visible on its bulbous head. A name sprang to my mind: Sea Neon.

"Class is over," Sebastian said. "Good luck!" Really supportive, wasn't he? He and Flounder swam to a large clam in the center of the cave while Ariel hid in a dark alcove.

Hazel pulled her wand out of its holster while the rest of us summoned our respective weapons. Oh, so Donald and Goofy didn't carry their weapons! I got it! _Radiant Sky_ appeared in my hand in the reverse grip.

As we fought, I was amazed at how Donald's magic, especially his _Thunder_ and _Fire_ magic, still worked underwater. Hazel soon learned that **Incendio** fizzled out as soon as it left her wand. She instead resorted to using spells that she had obviously learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

In a matter of minutes, the Sea Neons were gone. They left behind munny, which I had to remember was different than the gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts that I was used to.

Sora dove down and tapped the large clam Sebastian and Flounder had been hiding in with _Three Wishes_. The clam opened with a stream of bubbles. Ariel swam out of the alcove she had been hiding in.

"Those creatures chased us," Ariel said.

"Oh, no!" Sebastian exclaimed. "Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too!" Just how big was this place if it had a palace? Wait, Agrabah had one, too.

"We'd better head back right away!" Ariel said.

"But," Flounder put in, "wh-what if we run into more on our way back?"

The mermaid turned to us. "I'm sorry, but we need your help. Please come to the palace with us."

"Sure!" Sora and I said in unison.

"Okay, just follow us. We know the way around here."

I nodded. "Let's do this!"

Ariel took the lead, followed by Sebastian and Flounder. Sora swam after them, Donald and Goofy right behind him. Hazel and I took the back. My sister always seemed to like swimming in circles, so I held her hand to keep her swimming straight.

As we emerged from the cave, I gasped in astonishment. The place was beautiful! We seemed to be in a canyon with overpasses and underpasses. Colorful coral grew on the sides. Above me, I saw sunlight and ripples on the surface. I could see the sunlight on the walls of the canyon.

We swam for several minutes. I knew for a fact that without this world's natives, I would have gotten so lost. I had a terrible sense of direction.

Finally, after going through a tunnel, there was a vast openness of water that was filled with what looked like the underwater version of buildings. Enormous blue, aqua, and purple seashells with many good-sized holes filled the space. We seemed to be in the middle of a town square. Everywhere I looked, I saw merpeople swimming around with various colors for tails. The women and girls wore seashell tops much like Ariel's but with different colors and all had different styled hair. All in all, it seemed much like an underwater version of London.

In the distance, I could see a green and yellow castle that seemed to glow. Ariel led us there, but as we got closer, I could see her getting a little nervous. We finally reached the castle, which had a massive archway. Right inside of it were huge, dark blue-green pillars. At the end of the hall was a large throne.

I heard swishing in the water behind me. Heartless! There were about seven of them. They were humanoid and had green armor and carried long and sharp-looking spears. The name Screw Driver popped into my head.

I prepared to summon my Keyblade, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gold light heading right for the Screw Drivers. They were blasted with the light. I turned and saw a man with a tail that had blue scales. He had golden bracers on his wrists. In his hands was a golden trident. The man looked extremely strong, but he had a long beard that was as white as snow. It looked nearly as long as the late Professor Dumbledore's! He had a golden crown on his head.

"That was too close," the man (who was obviously the king) said. Ariel swam to him. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace." The king looked sternly at each of us off-worlders in turn.

"Daddy!" Ariel said excitedly.

"Oh, Ariel!" King Triton exclaimed angrily. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

The mermaid rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Strange creatures lurk outside," he continued.

I narrowed my eyes at that and crossed my arms over my chest.

Sebastian cleared his throat. "Behold," the crab said to us. "You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton."

"And who are they?" King Triton asked.

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel replied.

"They don't look familiar."

I was getting tired of him talking about us as if we weren't there. "We're not from around here," I said.

"We're travelers!" Hazel piped up.

"A-hyuck!" Goofy laughed. "Yup. We came to find the Keyhole." He swam up to Ariel.

"The what?" Triton asked suddenly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Donald cross his arms and grumble.

"What's that?" Ariel asked curiously.

Goofy laughed again. "Well, it's a-"

"There's no such thing," the king finished harshly. "Certainly not here."

"But Daddy…" Ariel said.

Triton glared at his daughter. "Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace! Is that clear?"

Ariel glared back defiantly and then turned away. She swam towards the exit of the throne hall. Sora and I shared a look before going after her. We swam out of the palace.

When we reached the end of the hall, I could see Ariel swimming through the crowd of people in the city. She was only visible by her bright red hair.

"Let's go after her," Goofy said as he swam ahead of us.

"Yeah," Donald agreed as he caught up with the turtle/dog. "There's no telling what kind of trouble she'll get herself into."

And so we struck out into the city. I took up the rear again. I soon realized that this was a mistake. Venders held me up, trying to sell me "the best kelp-shampoo around!" After I maneuvered around them, I would get held up with five more. Soon, I lost sight of Hazel and Sora. Which way did they go? I swam in the direction I could have sworn they went in, but I wound up looking into a field of kelp. As I said before, my sense of direction was terrible.

"Aw, great," I said to myself. "This is absolutely _brilliant_! I'm completely lost, and now I have no chance of ever finding any of my friends again!" I sighed.

I jumped when I heard a snake-like voice from behind me speak. "Poor child."

"Who's there?" I asked warily, ready to whip out my Keyblade.

"Poor child," the voice said again, this time to my left. I turned and saw an eel. Its left eye was yellow, and the other looked like a normal eye.

"Left all alone, lost and friendless," another voice said from my right. There was another eel there. It was identical to the one that had just spoken, except for the fact that its eyes were swapped.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but I knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Ursula can help," the eels said in unison. "But are you willing to accept her help?"

Who was this Ursula? Could she really help me find my way? Could she even help me find all of my friends that were scattered around?

"Take me to her," I said, hoping that I didn't make a mistake.

The eels grinned. "Follow us," they commanded. They turned tail and swam to an underwater mountain. I followed them. As we went, the water turned darker and colder. I felt goose bumps pop up on my arms. They led me through a series of caves and tunnels, which were extremely difficult to memorize.

Finally, we reached the end of those dark tunnels and into an open space. In the distance, I could see what looked like a whale, but not the size of Monstro. Light was coming through the open mouth. I swam up to it…


	10. Ursula the SeaWitch

**Much of this chapter I came up with as I was typing it mainly because I normally write what I'm going to type, but then the whole Ursula thing popped into my head. Just tell me what you think. In this chapter, we'll explore one of Ariana's fatal flaws.**

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR KINGDOM HEARTS! ONLY ARI AND HAZEL IN THIS CHAPTER!**

Chapter Ten: Ursula the Sea-Witch

The eels led me up to a large whale, but then I realized that the whale was actually the skeleton of one with something draped over the top. I shivered. That thing was creepy.

They led me inside the whale, and I could see what looked like a cauldron made of coral in the center and a hole on the opposite side of the entrance. From there, a creature – oh, wait, a lady – emerged from the hole. The lady had light purple skin and a white shock of hair on her head. She had what looked like a navy dress on, but then I realized that she had tentacles instead of legs. The last thing I noticed was that she was fat.

"Oh, what do we have here?" the lady, who I assumed was Ursula, said.

"Er, hi," I responded nervously. "My name is Ariana, and these eels told me that you could help me find my friends."

"Oh, my poopsies-" _Poopsies?_ "-were right. I can help you find your friends, all alone out there in the worlds. Those poor, unfortunate souls." She bowed her head.

"Wait, are you saying that-"

"Of course not! Now, finding your friends will take some powerful magic, but I can't do it on my own. I need the help of my trident." She grumbled a little. "The thing is, that King Triton took it a long time ago. I can't get it on my own or else I'll get killed."

I contemplated that. The king took Ursula's trident? King Triton didn't seem like the stealing type. Overprotective, yes. Thief, not so much.

"Come on, Ariana. Do you want to find your friends?"

I thought for another minute. I looked up and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it." Anything to help my friends. Ursula smiled.

I approached the palace from behind so I wouldn't be detected as easily. This was one of those times that I really wished that I had my mother's pendant. Strangely, though, I didn't see or meet anyone.

I reached the throne room with no trouble. King Triton was floating a few yards from his throne, his back to me. He was talking in an undertone to Sebastian the crab.

"Sebastian, I may have gone too far," the king said.

"No, Your Majesty," the crab replied.

"She shouldn't be with that Keybearer. That Keyblade always brings bad luck."

I tuned out everything else they said so I could focus. I swam to the throne and hid behind it, cursing inwardly to the bright colors I was wearing. I reached forward and grabbed the trident from its stand.

But at that moment, King Triton turned, and his face contorted with anger.

"_**What are you doing back here**__?_" he roared. I cringed and gripped the trident tightly. An inky cloud of darkness appeared behind him. It dispersed, revealing

Ursula and her two eels.

Ursula held up her hand, an orb of darkness forming. That double-crosser!

"King Triton, Ursula's behind you!"

"As if I'll believe that!" He turned and got blasted by the dark orb. He flew through the water and into his throne.

"_Daddy_!" I heard Ariel shout. She swam through the hall and to her father's side.

Ursula took the trident from my hands that had gone limp from shock. I looked up in shock. How could I have let this happen?

The sea-witch cackled evilly, trident above her head. "The trident is mine at last! And I couldn't have done it without you my dear."

I narrowed my eyes at her and balled my hands into fists. "This isn't what I wanted, Ursula!"

"Why not? Aren't you tired of looking for your friends on every single world?" She paused. "Oh yes, we had a deal, didn't we? You'll see your friends again… in the deepest pits of darkness!"

The two eels swam around. "We cannot find the Keyhole," one said.

"The Keyhole is not here," the other continued.

"What?" Ursula shouted, obviously outraged. At least I held a small victory. She turned. "Why, we have company. I'm afraid you're a little late, handsome!" she said, her comment directed at Sora. The sea-witch giggled maniacally for a second, and then a black cloud appeared, obscuring her and the eels. When it vanished, the three of them were gone.

"Daddy!" Ariel shouted worriedly.

"The trident…" King Triton said weakly. "We must get it back."

I looked away, guilt welling up in my chest. I felt horrible. My want to find my friends had made this happen. King Triton was hurt. The trident was gone.

I looked up. "I'll find it for you," I said. "This is my mess, and I'm going to clean it up." I turned my eyes to Hazel, Sora, Donald and Goofy. "You guys don't have to help me."

"What are you talking about?" Hazel asked.

"Of course we'll help you," Goofy continued

"Yeah," Donald agreed.

Sora held out his hand. "Come on, Ari, let's beat Ursula together."

I smiled and took his hand. "Okay." (**1**)

"Wait," Ariel said. "I'm coming with you. Ursula hurt my father, and I won't let her get away with it."

"No, Ariel," the king said. "I wouldn't bear it if she hurt you." He turned to us. "Ursula draws power from her cauldron. To defeat Ursula, you must strike her cauldron with magic. Sebastian will lead you there."

"Thank you," I said as we all turned and swam out of the palace.

Soon, we reached a cave that had holes that were billowing steam. "It's through here," Sebastian said as he took the lead. He led us out of the caves and into an open sea with a great cave in the distance. I recognized it immediately: It was a giant skeleton and Ursula's lair.

We reached the center of the giant skeleton. Sora swam inside ahead of us, and I was right behind him. Donald and Goofy followed with Hazel.

"Come out!" Donald shouted. "You can't run!"

"Your time has come!" Sebastian continued. He was on top of Donald's head.

Ursula the sea witch swam out of the hole in the wall and descended to the floor. She had an ugly grin on her purple face. The duck and crab screamed.

Immediately, I summoned _Radiant Sky_ and threw every offensive spell I knew at it. Donald summoned his staff and cast the most powerful spells he knew. Hazel pulled her wand out of her holster and started jinxing the eels. Sora and Goofy summoned their respective weapons and attacked Ursula.

"**Flipendo**!" I shouted. Light blue light burst from _Radiant Sky_ and hit the cauldron. Multi-colored light flowed from the cauldron and filled the cave. It stunned Ursula. Sora and Goofy took this to their advantage and struck the sea witch.

We proceeded like this for several minutes until Hazel jinxed the eels one last time with a stunning spell. When the light faded, there was only a small cloud of black and green, which quickly faded.

Ursula gasped, her eyes wide. "You'll pay for this!" She escaped through a tunnel.

"Let's go after her!" Goofy said, his shield on his back, looking raring for a battle.

"Yeah!" Donald agreed as he raised his staff high.

"Hey Sebastian," I called. "Would you know where Ursula is?"

The crab nodded. "She'd be in the deepest, darkest, and coldest place around here."

"Thanks," Hazel said.

"Good luck!"

Sora took the lead while I (again) took the rear. I wondered if it would always be like that. Gradually, the water grew even colder against my skin. I could feel my arms breaking out in goose bumps. It got so dark that Hazel pulled her wand out again and lit the tip with a whisper of "**Lumos**".

Soon, we reached a dark and cold open expanse of water. I saw Ursula, who had Triton's golden trident in hand. "You pathetic fools!" Ursula roared. "I rule the seas now!" The trident glowed for a second, and then I heard a rushing sound from below. I looked down and saw a black cloud billowing up from the depths. It swirled up around us. I couldn't see. Someone shouted my name. A pair of large hands shoved me through the water.

The water cleared. Sora was gone. But Ursula was there. She had grown so much that her face was six feet tall. She looked even more ugly up close. The trident had grown with her, and it was in her right hand.

"Now," Ursula said, her voice booming, "not only do I have the trident, but I also have the Heart of Magic!" There was that term again. Did Jafar make it up or not? I couldn't focus on that at the moment because Ursula held up one of her tentacles. Sora was wriggling in her grasp."

"Sora!" I shouted. The sea-witch was going to pay for tricking me and for taking Sora! "Hang on, Sora!"

"I can't do anything else!" he answered before getting swung around.

I summoned_ Radiant Sky_ and nearly started attacking the sea-witch, but Hazel grabbed my right wrist. "Ari, we have to think about this first. What's our strategy? But we have to remember that Ursula thinks she has you, not Sora."

"Wait," I said, "does **Expelliarmus** work on large things?"

"I already thought of that. Apparently, in this state, she's immune to that."

"I think our best strategy," Donald put in, "is to get behind her and hit her there while someone distracts. And then someone has to free Sora."

"I'll do that," I said immediately. I still felt really guilty for all that happened.

"I'll distract her!" Hazel shouted.

"Then that leaves you n' me, Donald," Goofy said.

"Ready," I said, ready to dash at a moment's notice, "go!"

[Third Person POV]

Hazel swam up and faced Ursula. "Hey, Ugly!" You can't get me!" The sea-witch glowered before she opened her mouth, and a stream of bubbles escaped it. Hazel blocked with a lazy **Protego**.

The brunette yawned. "I thought this would be tougher."

Meanwhile, Ari sank to where Sora was still wriggling in Ursula's grip. "OK, I'm gonna get you out of this. After all, I haven't paid you back for Agrabah." Sora nodded with a smile. It was getting hard for him to breath.

Ari struck out with _Radiant Sky_, making sure to hit the tentacle with the teeth. It wasn't a good enough attack. There had to be a better way. She didn't think she had enough energy for a magic attack: She was exhausted. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She smiled before drawing her purple tail to her chest and held her Keyblade behind her back, teeth out. She flipped through the water, repeatedly hitting the black tentacle.

Soon enough, it loosened up. Sora wrested his right arm out and summoned _Three Wishes_. He threw two _Fira_ spells and a well-placed _Blizzara_ before Ursula's tentacle turned into black ink and dissipated. Sora heard her yelp in pain.

"Thanks, Ari!" Sora said before swimming up to join Hazel.

Ari nodded before joining Donald and Goofy.

Ursula was getting tired of those pesky meddlers. "Get ready for this!" she shouted as she raised the trident – **her** trident. Bolts of lightning rained down in a circle around her. She smiled when she heard many grunts of pain.

[Ari's POV]

Pain coursed through my body. It felt like an eternity before it stopped. When it finally did, I floated there for a few seconds, breathing heavily. Donald quacked out a spell: "_Heal_!" Instantly, I felt residual pain vanish, and I felt a little bit stronger.

I raised my Keyblade and charged at the octopus-lady. I swung at her with everything I had, at the same time evading more of the lightning and some bubbles. Donald and Goofy did the same right by my side. Something inside me told me to remember to tell them "thank you"…

With one final spell from Hazel, Ursula groaned and hunched over as a cloud of darkness billowed up again, but this time, it just covered Ursula. She yelled in fury before she let go of the glowing trident. When she disappeared, a golden beam of light appeared. After a few seconds, it vanished, leaving behind the trident. Hazel swam over to it and grabbed it.

On the way back to the palace, Sora told me everything that I had missed while I had been – well, you know. I gasped when he told me about the shark when they had gone to the sunken ship. Finally, we reached the throne hall, where King Triton still sat on his throne, Ariel still by his side. Hazel handed his trident back.

"Your Highness," I said," I'm so sorry." I dispelled my Keyblade at that moment. Before reaching the palace, I didn't take any chances with the Heartless, but there hadn't been any. "I shouldn't have taken the trident."

"Please don't be angry with her," Sora said. I had told him why I had worked for Ursula. "She was lost and was looking for friends."

The king sighed. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been angry with you. I should've asked you what you were doing, and I know how tempting Ursula's offers can be." He turned to Ariel. "You probably would've gone to visit Ursula if given the chance because I destroyed the crystal after I had lost my temper.

Goofy piped up. "Oh yeah, the crystal! Why did you destroy it?"

"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole. The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at any cost."

"Daddy…" Ariel murmured.

"Key bearers, I have one more request: Seal the Keyhole. My trident also has the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?"

"Anything to make up for what I did," I said.

"Of course," Sora agreed. "That's why we had in mind from the start." Was it really? Well, I guessed that that was what Donald and Goofy wanted in addition to searching for their king.

"Where is the Keyhole, Daddy?" Ariel asked.

"You should know better than anyone Ariel," the king stated. "It's in your grotto."

"Really?" Goofy asked. "Come on, guys, let's go." Before leaving, King Triton gave his trident to his daughter.

I stayed in the rear again, but made sure to always stay close to someone who knew the way. It did not take us long to reach it, only five minutes. No Heartless appeared, and Sora told me that it was because Ursula was gone.

Ariel's grotto was concealed by a door0like rock, which Sora pulled open. It wasn't dark inside, like I originally thought it would. At the top of the cave, which was a long way up, I could see a disk of light. In the grotto, the walls were lined with natural rock shelves. Things I had not yet seen in Atlantica rested on those shelves: bottles, jewelry, boxes, vases, and an odd book or two.

Ariel held the trident, which started to glow with golden light. On one of the walls were a place and a smaller scaled indenture of the pointed end of the trident. The indent glowed. In the center of the grotto, a stream of bubbles flowed to the surface. From the bubbles, a Keyhole appeared, just floating in the air… er – water. My Keyblade seemed magnetized and was pulled to it. Soft purple light appeared at the tip and flowed into the Keyhole. I heard a _click_, and the Keyhole vanished. I had just locked my first world.

"Tell me, Sora," Ariel said. "Your world, what's it like?"

"Oh, about that… Sorry for lying to you."

The redhead giggled. "It's okay. Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too. So many places I want to see… I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it!"

Behind me, I heard Sebastian speak up. "Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it!"

"Oh! Before you go, I have something to give you, Ari. It's from my collection." Ariel opened a jewelry box and pulled something out of it. When she showed it to me, I realized it was a Keychain.

"Thanks, Ariel," I said as I took it in my hand. "Good-bye!"

After we said our farewells, we swam out of the grotto. Donald pulled a communicator out of Goofy's shell and talked for a few seconds. Again, I felt a tingling sensation all over my body, and at the same time, I felt a slight pulling on my fin. When I opened my eyes again, we were back in the Gummi ship. I was back to normal, and so was everyone else.

My hair was dripping like crazy, so I tilted my head forward, gathered my sopping hair, and wrung it all out. When I looked up, I saw Hazel doing the same thing. Sora was rubbing a towel through his hair, his brown, spiky locks barely drooping. Donald and Goofy were on the ground.

Donald sighed. "So… tired…" Goofy laughed, obviously exhausted.

Suddenly, I felt a pain in my shoulder. "Oh gosh! Cramp!"

Hazel started laughing until she yelped in pain. Sora did the exact same thing. Soon, everyone was groaning in pain.

"Donald," I groaned. "Is there a spell for getting rid of cramps?"

"No," said the duck miserably. "I wish there was."

Chip and Dale the chipmunks scampered up to us. "So, how was Atlantica?" Chip asked. The rest of us groaned as a response.

**A/N: So, be sure you tell me what you think. And I really need to know if anyone likes this. I'm running a little low on motivation.**

**Did anyone see the new stuff for Dream Drop Distance? I gotta say, Bat Bat and Mew… something or other look a lot like Pokemon. And what did Riku do with his hair? Maybe his mother finally got to it.**

**1: Gotta have the cheesiness.**


	11. This is Halloween

**Yes, yes, I know this is late. Starts humming "We were made to be courageous…"**

**THE DAY I OWN HARRY POTTER AND KINGDOM HEARTS IS THE DAY I BECOME RULER OF THE WORLD!**

Chapter Eleven: This is Halloween

Sora, Donald and I sat in the cockpit of the Gummi ship the next day. Sora had taken the controls of the ship from Donald. The duck had relinquished them reluctantly. Sora now sat in the pilot's chair, hunched over the controls, his tongue slightly sticking out.

"Having fun, Sora?" I asked.

He sat up a little straighter. He turned to face me, a huge smile plastered on his face. "You'd better believe it!"

"Sora!" Donald shouted. "Keep your eyes on the road!"

"What road?" Sora and I asked in unison. We burst out laughing.

After we finally stopped, Hazel and Goofy walked in. "… And that's why the Slytherin and Gryffindor Houses hate each other," Hazel finished.

"Well," Goofy said, "why can't the two Houses put their differences aside?"

Hazel opened her mouth to respond and closed it again. "Actually, I don't know."

Sora spoke up. "Hey guys! There's a new world!" He pointed outside the window. It was shaped strangely like a jack-o-lantern with a few buildings resting on it.

A few minutes later, we stood at the end of a road, the back of which was blocked off with a black fence and dark gray hills. I looked up. The sky above us was completely dark, and I could see an enormous, full moon. The road in front of us was covered with dark gray cobblestones. All in all, the place was dark and creepy.

"Cool!" Hazel shouted. I looked at her and gasped. She was ugly! Well, her face had changed. Her nose was long and hooked, and she had warts all over her face. Her brown hair was ratty, and she had on a black cloak. She had turned into a hag.

I looked at Sora next. He wore an outfit that was similar to his normal attire, except he wore long black pants and had long sleeves. He had what looked like white shoulder-pads and white gloves, the fingers looking like claws. On his back was a pair of small, black, skeletal wings. The top part of his face was in shadow, so his blue eyes stood out even more. His brown hair looked even darker, he had a pumpkin mask on the right side of his face, and he had fangs protruding from his mouth. He was a vampire.

Donald looked like a mummy, as in he was almost completely covered in bandages. The only exceptions were his beak and webbed feet. There was a gap at his midsection, and instead of white feathers, there was absolutely nothing.

Goofy resembled something out of _Frankenstein_. Out of the top of his head was a giant screw that made me think of his hat. He wore clothes that looked just like his normal ones, but they looked like they had just aged a hundred years.

Hazel conjured a mirror and admired herself in it for a second before handing it to me. I gasped. My hair had turned pitch black. Perched on top of it was a pair of black cat ears. My eyes had stayed the same, except for the pupils: they were vertical slits. I looked down at the rest of myself. I was in a black body suit that looked to be covered in black fur. The body suit came over my feet, both of which looked like cat paws. My hands were the same. They had four digits each. I turned my head so I could see my back. I could see a long, black, cat's tail.

After passing the mirror around, Goofy spoke up. "This sure is a spooky place. I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too."

"Don't worry," Donald spoke up. "We look spooky, too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!"

"You think so?"

"We sure will, sonny," Hazel said in a _really_ creepy voice. Soon, though, she looked at the sky. She muttered something, so quietly that I was sure I was the only one that heard her. "Orion."

We finally caught up to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who had reached a gate at the end of the alley. Sora opened the tall, black gate. After the gate was a plaza with gray cobblestone walkways, more paths leading away, and a fountain with a dragon's head. Green slime flowed from its mouth.

As soon as Sora laid eyes on the plaza, he summoned _Three __Wishes._ I soon saw why. Heartless filled the plaza. _Crabclaw_ appeared in my grasp. Sora charged the Hover Ghosts, all of which strangely did nothing. He slashed through one, but his Keyblade passed right through them. Weird.

"And now," a voice announced, startling me into dropping my Keyblade. Sora walked back to us, confusion written on his face. "Allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares – Jack Skellington!" The Heartless formed two lines, lifted their arms (synchronized!), and drifted backwards. From the fountain of slime rose a bleach white skeleton wearing a pinstriped suit. It stepped out and posed.

The announcer, who was a cone-shaped man (he didn't appear to have any neck…) wearing a black suit and an extremely tall top hat, exclaimed. "Bravo, Jack! Bravo! Those ghosts will be big hit at this year's Halloween!"

"Thank you, thank you!" the skeleton exclaimed. "But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough." He bowed his head. "I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor.

"Then I'll go attend to the decorations." When the announcer guy turned, I saw, to my shock, that he had another face on the back of his head! This face was completely pale, and its eyes were closed. The short man scurried away on his short legs.

"So what now?" Hazel asked.

"Why don't we follow that Jack Skellington guy?" Sora suggested. Always the curious one. But he was right. Our only chance of finding this world's keyhole was probably to follow the skeleton.

We followed where Jack went, but before I walked in, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I turned and on the ground was a black rabbit with scarlet eyes. It looked oddly familiar… And then I recognized it: it was Angelique Malfoy's rabbit, Reaver! How in the name of Merlin did it get here?

"Come on, Reaver," I said, beckoning the rabbit closer. It went completely against my judgment, but it was Angie's rabbit! That rabbit was really creepy. It – well, I'll have to explain later.

The rabbit stayed where he was. I sighed, walked over, and picked Reaver up. He was strangely cold… But I knew that he was alive, since he twitched ever so slightly.

I saw a door close, so I ran over there. I opened the door and was met with darkness. I shuddered. I had never really liked the darkness when I was little, and my world's destruction had only made it worse. I had walked into what looked like a small courtyard. I could hear voices coming from another door in front of me. Hazel, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood in front of the door.

"I don't understand," Jack Skellington said. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."

"Nonsense," an older, wiser sounding voice scoffed. "My devices are always perfect." And obnoxious.

"Maybe it needs a heart," an extremely familiar voice suggested. Hazel gasped.

"That's it, Orion!" Jack shouted. I smiled widely, and I felt my eyes widen. It _was_ Orion! "The Heartless need a heart. Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

Device?

"Certainly," the old man replied. Hazel and I tried to open the door and walk in, but Donald and Goofy held us back. What were they doing? Didn't they know that it was our brother behind that door? "A heart's not that complicated. Let's get to work."

"'To make a heart,'" Jack read, "'first take a container with a lock.'"

"We need the key to this thing first!"

After they finished their conversation, Donald and Goofy finally released us.

"Why did you hold us back?" Hazel asked angrily. Her face contorted so that it was even more ugly than it had been thanks to our transformations. Donald cowered behind Goofy.

That is, until the duck regained his composure. "We have to protect the world border," Donald said quite simply.

"Donald," I said, "I think Orion shattered this world's border and stamped on the pieces a long time ago." I turned to Sora. "Oh no. You're not going to unlock it for them, are you?"

"Why not?" Sora inquired. "If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides, I want to see the Heartless dance, don't you?" Typical Sora… "Don't you?"

"Not really," Donald replied.

"No thanks," I said.

Sora ignored us and walked right in. Hazel and I shared one look and burst into the lab, Reaver still in my arms. The scene I saw was Jack standing in front of a book; and old, bald guy who looked like your ordinary mad scientist in front of a lab table; a Search Ghost Heartless on said table; and Orion standing in the corner, his arms crossed.

When Orion looked up, I saw the shock in his gray eyes. He hadn't changed a bit. He still wore the same navy T-shirt and jeans from a week ago. Granted, his skin was darker, as was his hair, and his clothes were torn.

"Orion!" Hazel and I screamed. I dropped Reaver and ran to my brother. I embraced him so hard I could've sworn I heard a rib crack.

After our group hug, I heard Jack exclaim. "Oh there you are, Reaver!" I turned and saw the skeleton holding Angie's rabbit. Wait, how did Jack know Reaver? "I've been looking all over for you."

"Wait," Hazel said, "Reaver's _your_ rabbit?"

"Well, not really mine. He just wanders around, comes and goes as he pleases. One day, he never came back. That was about twenty years ago."

That explained a lot…

"By the way, you wouldn't've happened to find a key to this heart, have you?" Jack asked.

Sora and I shared a look.

"We sure have," Sora said as he summoned _Three__ Wishes_. He tapped something that was on the table. I took a closer look. It was a dark, cloth bag that was stitched in several places and looked as if it were… _pulsing_. It had iron crossing over it in a "T" pattern with a padlock where the two strips joined. With a touch from Sora's Keyblade, the thing clicked. It was open.

"My!" Jack exclaimed. "That was amazing. Uh, and you are…"

"Sora."

"Well done, Sora! I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween."

I decided to step in. "Why's this Heartless on the table?" I asked, gesturing to the Search Ghost.

"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is that I can't get them to dance with me." I raised a brow at this. "So the doctor, Orion, and I are trying to improve the guidance system. The doctor's quite a genius! Okay Orion, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart: Pulse." I saw a frog twitching on the table. "Emotion."

"Terror," the doctor continued. Next to the frog was a spider. I shuddered. I shared my mother's fear of spiders.

"Fear," Jack said as the doctor scratched his nails on a chalkboard-like surface. "Hope and despair." Next were two snakes, both of which were biting the other's tail. One was dark orange while the other was stone grey. "Mix them all together, and we have a heart!"

I seriously doubted it was that easy. I looked to my siblings. They seemed to share my thoughts.

The doctor wheeled his chair to a switch that was on the wall. He flipped it, dark blue sparks dancing around it. The Heartless and the heart sparked with the same electricity. After a couple of seconds, the Search Ghost sat up. Had the heart really worked? I stared in shock. Then it bowed its head and flopped against the table.

"It failed!" the doctor cried. He wheeled over to the large book. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory." To my alarm, the doctor opened his head (it had hinges) and started picking at his brain! "Sally! Sally! Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her! Sally's got the memory we need. Orion, can you find her for me?"

"Yes, doctor," Orion said as he nodded.

"I'm coming too!" Hazel and I shouted in unison.

"Come on, guys," I said to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I picked up Reaver. They nodded, and Orion led us outside. As soon as he opened the door to the courtyard, however, I heard the announcer's voice magnified by a megaphone. When I saw him, his face was much paler. It was ashen gray, and his eyes were yellow. Wait, wasn't that the other side of his head?

"Orion! We have a major crisis!" he shouted. "The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!"

Hazel snapped her fingers. "Maybe the experiment-"

"-triggered something in the other Heartless," Orion finished.

"We'll take care of it," I said as I adjusted Reaver in my arms. I couldn't get over how cold he was.

We all ran out to the center of the plaza. About eight Search Ghost Heartless filled the center of town. Sora, Donald, and Goofy immediately leapt into action, Hazel only a half second behind. Orion whipped out his wand after observing for a moment, which left me still holding the ice-cold rabbit.

My mind unwillingly wandered to a story that my mother had told me about the Battle of Hogwarts. In that story, Mum's best friend, Tori, had lost her wand but still had Reaver with her. Tori had thrown Reaver at Death Eaters, all of which were startled when the rabbit had done… something. I couldn't remember the whole story.

I held Reaver in my left hand and lobbed him at one Search Ghost that had been getting close to me. Reaver opened his mouth, razor-sharp teeth protruding from it. I thought that mouth was a lot smaller… The teeth clamped on the Heartless' arm. The Search Ghost waved it arm madly, trying to shake Reaver off, but to no avail. All the while, I stood there in shock, my mouth wide open.

I felt a pair of cold hands with long fingers grab my shoulders. I could smell nothing but a putrid odor. I felt fain. I couldn't move. I couldn't feel the ground anymore. And then it was over. I landed on the ground and felt my tail move ever so slightly to try to regain my weight. I turned and found a Search Ghost hovering right behind me. I summoned _Crabclaw_ and swung diagonally before completing the X-formation. It dispersed into black smoke after I cast a strong **Flipendo**.

Before rushing back into battle, I pulled a potion from a pouch on my hip and downed it. I ran to help Orion, strength flooding my system. My brother had a look of fear on his face. I cast _Fire_ at the Search Ghost, which flinched. Orion took his chance by dispelling it with a well-place **Stupefy**.

Hazel took care of the last Search Ghost, Reaver sitting calmly by her. I collected the cold, black rabbit.

Orion looked at me, wonder in his eyes. He opened his mouth. I interrupted him. "Before you say anything, we'll explain everything later."

"Okay," Orion responded. "Let's go this way. Sally often goes there." He pointed at a road leading away from the plaza. He pushed open a gate and walked through. We all followed.

Past the gate was what looked like a graveyard, but the graves were surrounding the purple ground. A stonewall surrounded the rectangle of graves. A figure nearly as tall as Jack stood on the other side. She had long, dull red hair. Her dress looked to be made of old rags. She turned around. To my horror, parts of her looked sown on!

"Oh, hello Orion," the… um, doll said.

"Hey, Sally," my brother replied. "Would you happen to have anything that would have something to do with memory?"

"Memory? You mean this?" She held up something that looked like a long-dead forget-me-not. "Here," Sally said, but she handed it over seemingly reluctantly. "Orion, I have a bad feeling about this. Why doesn't Jack try something else? There's still time."

"This is what he wants, and he's too stubborn to listen to anything else." Orion had changed. He wasn't as quiet as he used to be.

As we raced back to Dr. Finklestein's, we met Jack, who was holding something. When Hazel asked what it was, he replied that it was a Jack-in-a-box (ironic, huh?), another ingredient for the heart. We all walked into the lab. The doctor was sitting in his wheelchair, his back to us. The book sat open before him.

Dr. Finklestein turned and took the ingredients. "Yes," he said. "This is it." He added the two to the pulsing heart. "There you go. This time it's sure to work." He picked up the heart and wheeled his chair to the Heartless still strapped to the table. But before he reached, the chair suddenly pitched forward, sending the doctor and heart flying.

I ran to help Dr. Finklestein back up. As I helped him into his chair, I saw the heart bounce around the room and land near the door. I heard laughter from there. Almost… like children. The laughing faded. The heart was gone.

Dr. Finklestein pounded a fist on the arm of his chair. "The nerve of those hooligans, stealing my work!"

"Come, on, we have to get it back," Orion said.

"Uh, why?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, I get it!" Hazel exclaimed. "The Heartless are drawn to it."

"So if it falls into the wrong hands…" Sora started.

"This world could be destroyed," I finished grimly.

"We gotta get that heart back!" Donald shouted as he ran as fast as he could from the lab.

We followed, and I could feel Reaver twitching in my arms. When we reached the plaza, we searched for the children. I listened for any movement. I could feel my cat ears twitching.

Finally, Sora sighed. "We lost them!"

Jack waved his hands. Who was he waving at? Something white appeared in front of me! It looked like a blanket with a dog's head… plus a glowing red nose.

"Zero, after them, quick!" Jack ordered. Zero the ghost dog nodded once and flew away. Jack sprinted after it. I followed, everyone else coming after us.

The next place was another graveyard, but in the center was a curly hill… I'm serious, there was a hill, and the tip was in a curl. Zero led us to it. To my utter amazement, the hill uncurled, and the very tip rested on the wall. Jack crossed first and beckoned the rest of us over. Hazel crossed next, sprinting the entire way. I was jealous: Hazel had always been nimbler than me.

Next was Sora, who took his sweet time to get there. Goofy kept falling about halfway, so Donald hit the dog with his staff and sent him all the way across. The duck grumbled as he walked. Next was my turn. I took a deep breath and started running. I kept my eyes forward. I slipped. I waved my arms about. Finally, I regained my balance using my tail and ran the rest of the way. I jumped over the wall and smiled. I did it!

That was when something caught my eye. I looked up. It was an enormous house. At the very end of the path was a bridge, lit by jack-o-lanterns. Beneath the bridge was a pit. The bridge led to the house that seemed to tower many stories above us.

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" Jack exclaimed.

"Oogie Boogie?" I inquired.

"He's a large bag of bugs," Orion answered. "I haven't met him myself, but the citizens say he's terrible."

"Let's go get 'im!" Donald shouted as he ran across the bridge, his staff held high.

I smiled and followed.

**This is late. I apologize, and the next chapter will be up soon.**


	12. A Terror of a Battle

Chapter Twelve: A Terror of a Battle

I followed my friends as Jack led the way to the very top of the house. This house, or mansion, was covered with bridges, elevators, and walkways, anything that would lead everywhere. Several times we had to stop on the way to the top to fight Heartless. We never ran out of room when we fought, which was really strange...

It told me we were getting close to the source of the Darkness.

We finally reached the top. I caught a glance of the moon and gasped. It was enormous! I could see almost every crater and ridge littering its surface. It seemed like this world's moon was closer than the one on my own world. I looked up when I heard hinges creaking. My friends were already going inside. I followed.

Inside was a really small room. There were some tiny tables with candles and a bathtub in a corner. Over Hazel's shoulder, I caught a glimpse of something going down a chute. The heart! In front of the chute were the three children from before. One was dressed as a devil, another as a witch, and the last as a skeleton.

Immediately, the devil boy pointed at Sora and shouted. "Attack!"

It was a very simple matter to stop them. Sora and I knocked them into the walls a couple of times. After that, they sat down against the back wall, panting heavily.

"We were just following orders!" the witch girl, Shock, panted. "Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart. It's all Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart."

"Yeah, that's right!" the boy dressed as a devil, Lock, exclaimed.

"B-But you guys said-" the skeleton boy, Barrel, stammered.

"You should be ashamed!" Shock scolded. It seemed a little overly done.

"Shock," Jack said, "how do we get to Oogie Boogie?"

"I'm not telling!"

Orion stepped forward and knelt to the little girl's level. "Shock, this is really important. Now, where can we find your friend?"

"There's this green door…" Barrel started.

"But you'll never find it!" Lock declared. Well… How old was this kid? I really hoped that I wasn't like that when I was that size.

Ori stood and started for the door again. "Come on, let's go search for that door." He really had changed. He was very commanding, like a true leader. Normally, he would step aside and let someone else lead. Was this what the Heartless did? Change people beyond recognition? They seemed to be doing the same to Riku.

"Let's split up," Jack suggested as we walked outside. "I'll search the east side, up towards the top."

"Orion and I will look around the base," I volunteered.

"Goofy and I can look between," Sora said. That left Hazel and Donald to explore the surrounding area.

"Gawrsh, how will we single each other?" Goofy asked.

"Signal!" Donald corrected.

"Send up red sparks or a fire spell when you find the door," Hazel said.

Jack started climbing around the roof of the mansion like some kind of monkey. Or spider… Sora and Goofy sprinted down the spiral ramp, and Hazel and Donald stayed where they were, searching for clues.

My brother and I started down the ramp and descended a staircase before he spoke. "So, why did you want to talk to me alone?"

"Huh?" I asked, my tail twitching. I plastered a smile on my face. "Whatever would make you think that?"

"Come on, you practically jumped to partner with me," Ori scoffed.

I sighed and felt my tail droop. "Okay, you got me. I wanted to find out what happened to you after the storm."

Orion stopped for a second, staring at his shoes. I paused in step. "What is there to talk about? The last thing I remember was dashing up that hill to where you were and then waking up here in Dr. Finklestein's lab. I realized then that Hazel couldn't speak for me, so I did it for myself. Then, when the Heartless started coming, I learned to duel. I didn't want this world to disappear like ours did. _Now _will you tell me what that thing is that you were carrying?"

As we continued to the very bottom, I gave Orion a quick rundown of the Keyblade and the worlds that I had been to so far. "See, we each have different goals: Donald and Goofy want to find their King, who told them to stick with Sora, and _he's_ some kind of 'Key'. Sora's world was destroyed, and he wants to find his two best friends, Riku and Kairi. When I joined, Donald said I was another 'Key'. As you know, I've been looking out for friends and family. But to restore our worlds, we have to defeat someone named Maleficent."

"Who's she?"

"She's this dark person. From what I understand, she wants to drown all of the worlds in darkness and rule them with her Heartless by her side. So while we've been searching, we also sealed worlds so they won't be lost in darkness like ours."

Orion remained silent until we reached the ground. It was gray and strewn with tall, black stones. There was a fenced area with a black arch. Past the fence was a poisonous green stream. It seemed to flow to the town. So _that_ was where the fountain got that stuff. On top of the cliff, I could see Donald and Hazel walking and – wait, were they arguing? Now that couldn't be good.

Ori stopped abruptly, and I bumped into him. I followed his gaze to a forest green door. In lighter green paint was the image of a… sock puppet?

"Found the door," I muttered as I summoned Crabclaw and shot red sparks high into the dark sky.

As soon as everyone joined us, Jack opened the door. Inside was something that I could only describe as a roulette wheel, except it wasn't decorated with numbers or cheerful colors. It had images of skulls, ghosts, skeletal hands, etc. In the center was a pillar with spikes on the edge. Around the edges of the roulette wheel were tumblers. The (rather fat) sock puppet stood on the other side of the room.

"Oogie Boogie," Jack shouted, "give me back the heart!"

"You want it?" Oogie Boogie taunted in a really deep voice. "Well, then come on over here and get it!" He held the heart in one… hand, tipped back his head, and swallowed the heart! Uh oh.

Oogie cackled evilly. This was so not good! "Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!" I heard the sound of portals opening. I tensed. Heartless appeared. But – wait, there were only two? These Heartless had dark purple body suits with slightly lighter purple sleeves, craggy mouths, and talons. They were Gargoyles.

"This is it?" Oogie asked. Well, that was anti-climatic. He growled. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!" He glared at us.

The floor tilted beneath us. I fell to my knees and slid onto the wheel. Chaos erupted. Oogie rolled a set of blood red dice. Gargoyles appeared. Hazel and Orion quickly dispatched the three of them. The dice fell again, and this time, scythe blades fell from the ceiling. I dived out of the way.

That was when I noticed Oogie Boogie standing on a conveniently placed ledge. I caught Sora's eye. He nodded. He cupped his hands, and I jumped on and bounced up, landing easily. It helped being part cat. Sora followed. I dashed to the bag of bugs, summoned _Crabclaw_, and ran past, teeth of the blade catching him. Sora followed up with a diagonal slash. We kept at this for a few seconds before Oogie pressed a switch on the floor, making it tilt again. Sora and I fell back onto the wheel.

More Gargoyles appeared.

"That does it!" Donald shouted as he raised his staff. Many bolts of lightning fell from the ceiling, destroying the Heartless and stunning Oogie Boogie. I made a mental note never to get on the duck's bad side.

Hazel and Orion took their chance and climbed up to the bag of bug's platform, firing spells at point blank. Sora pulled something from his pocket and tossed it into the air. "Mushu!" he called. From what I recognized was a Summon Charm sprang a fiery-red lizard. But wait, it looked more like a Chinese dragon.

"I'm on fire, baby!" it, or rather he, shouted eagerly. He sat atop Sora's head. The brunette climbed up and started striking Oogie, the tiny dragon spitting fireballs at the sack of bugs. After a little bit, the floor tilted again, and Mushu disappeared.

What happened next surprised me. Oogie stared at the ceiling. His sides ripped open, and bugs spilled out. Ew. Now I knew why they called him a "bag of bugs". They spilled out over the edge of the platform. Oogie Boogie looked down and tried to gather the bugs back, but he deflated. A single blue bug fell down and landed on its back. I could see the heart where Oogie once stood.

"So, that heart was a failure after all," Jack murmured.

"I thought it was anti-climatic," Hazel said.

"Let's get out of here," Donald quacked, his voice quivering.

"Heh, looks like someone's scared!"

"Of course not! I'm just worried about Sora here getting scared!"

"What was that, Donald?" Sora asked.

The mummy-duck said nothing by walked outside, Goofy hollering after him to apologize. The rest of us laughed as we followed. As we left the mansion and headed back to the town, something still felt… off. I couldn't tell how.

After I stepped off the bridge, the ground shook. Goofy yelped. He wasn't the only one.

Jack turned and looked up. "Huh?"

Smoke billowed all over the house. I could hear a ghostly wail. "_OOOoooOOHH_!" The smoke cleared and on the ground stood – Oogie Boogie? But wait, he seemed to have merged with his house. He held up lanterns, bridges covering him. He almost looked exactly like his mansion.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "How did he get so big?"

"Look!" Orion shouted. "All of those dark globs on him! I can practically feel the darkness. He must be-"

"-drawing power from them," Hazel finished.

"All we have to do is get rid of those, right?" I asked.

Nobody answered. They all leapt into battle. All except for Jack, who stayed by my side.

"Is it normal for people to merge with their houses here?" I questioned.

"No." With that, he cast _Thundara_, a stronger version of _Thunder_ at a dark glob about twenty feet away.

I crouched down, hoping that agility came with this cat costume, and jumped. I landed, just barely, on a platform about ten feet away. There was a Shadow Glob here. I summoned _Crabclaw_. I prepared to strike when I felt a terrible pain on my tail. I turned around and saw fire streaming from a lantern, which had caught my tail.

"Freeze!" I shouted as ice shot from my Keyblade. The _Blizzard_ spell connected with the fire and extinguished it. Sora climbed up on the other side and drew Oogie's attention. I turned back to the glob and finally destroyed it. I felt it get somewhat warmer, and not just from the fire.

I ran up the platform to another one that was at the very end. After a few strikes, that one was gone, too.

I found Donald near the ground, standing next to another Shadow Glob. He was surrounded by Gargoyle Heartless. And he was whacking them with his staff. The duck didn't have any Mana. I ran to help him. I raised my Keyblade. "_Thunder_!" I shouted. The Heartless scattered, and the Shadow Glob vanished.

"Thanks!" Donald said.

All of a sudden, everything changed. I had no idea how to describe it. Sudden warmth, maybe? The mansion and Oogie shook. Smoke billowed again. Oogie wiggled wildly. It exploded, leaving rubble everywhere and an enormous glowing imprint of a Keyhole.

Sora stood in front of it and raised _Three Wishes_. He fired a beam of blue light into the sky. It split into multiple ones and sank into the Keyhole. I heard a loud click, and the Keyhole faded.

Later, we all stood around in Dr. Finklestein's lab.

"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" Jack pondered, almost to himself.

"Don't feel bad, Jack," Sally murmured as she stepped closer. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together." She held Jack's hands. _Aww,_ I thought to myself. It was really sweet.

"I guess we have no choice," Jack said as he turned to us. "We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now. Visit us anytime, Sora. You should, too, Orion, since you're going with your sisters. Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!"

"Emotion, memory…" Dr. Finklestein muttered from the corner. "We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What _is_ a heart anyway? I can't figure it out."

Sora ignored him. "Don't worry! We'll be back!"

Orion stared at everything in awe after we were transported back to the Gummi ship.

"Get used to it, Ori," Hazel said. She patted his shoulder.

I fell backwards and landed with a **fump**. I sighed.

"Ari, you okay?" Sora asked, concern obvious in his voice.

I giggled. I was so tired. "I'm just glad no to have a tail anymore. It felt so _weird_."

Everyone started laughing.

…

…

…

"What?"

**A/N: Next story will be coming up in the next few days!**

**Also, be sure to vote in the poll. It will be up until after the last chapter of this story is posted.  
**


	13. What?

**So, here we go. This is the beginning of the end.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: What?

Orion, Sora, and I stood in the training room. Sora was learning **Glacius** while I was trying to learn **Stupefy**, which was a fourth year spell. I was trying my best with _Radiant Sky_, but I was having a hard time casting the spell. Sora suggested using _Crabclaw_.

I pulled the Keychain out of my pocket. It was a simple, light blue seashell with a yellow chain coming from it. I took off the Keychain for _Radiant Sky_ and replaced it with the shell. My Keyblade transformed in my hands. The handle was green and reminded me so much of seaweed. The guard was of a purple mermaid on either side of the handle. The blade was light blue in color and looked like a wave. The teeth were an orange crab, its pincers extended. I felt a rush of power. _Crabclaw_, a voice whispered, the same one that seemed to echo whenever I touched a new Keyblade. It seemed to do that every time I changed my Keyblade.

"D'you want to try again, Ari?" Orion asked me.

"Absolutely," I said confidently as I raised _Crabclaw_ and pointed it at my brother. "**Stupefy**!" A jet of red light flew from the Keyblade and hit Orion in the chest. Uh-oh!

Sora quit blasting the already ice-covered pail he'd been practicing on and turned to me. "Is Orion okay?"

I raced to Ori, dropping _Crabclaw_ as I ran. He was breathing. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "Okay, he's only unconscious."

"Should I go get Hazel?"

"No. He should wake up on his own in a minute or two." I looked at the discarded _Crabclaw_. "I never realized that changing a Keychain would increase my power like that. And I can't believe I never noticed!"

"I felt the same way when I got _Lady Luck_."

At that moment, Orion stirred. He groaned and sat up. "Ugh, where's the bus that hit me?"

"She's right there," Sora said, pointing at me. I elbowed him in the ribs.

Orion shook his head and stood. "That was really good, Ari. But you just need to learn how much power to put in your spells. Now, let's go back to the cockpit."

As soon as I sat down, Goof looked up from the radar. "Uh, a big ship is catching up to us."

As if on cue, a massive, wooden ship with three masts, the sails open, a purple crow's nest on top of each mast, came into view. It had a couple of golden patterns, and the deck looked a little small. All in all, the ship looked like it belonged in a cartoon.

"Quit gawking!" Donald commanded. "That's a pirate ship!" The pirate ship swung around so that it was facing the Gummi ship.

"It's going to ram us!" Sora shouted. "Hold on tight!"

I felt the ship shudder greatly beneath my feet. I lost my balance, and I felt a sharp pain in my head. Everything swam for a few seconds before turning black. I could vaguely hear unfamiliar voices.

* * *

I opened my eyes. I could see a midnight blue sky filled with stars. I couldn't help but think that the sight was beautiful. I felt someone shake my shoulder. I sat up and looked around. Sora was sitting to my right. He was the one who had been shaking my shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked. "Where are we?"

"I think we're on that pirate ship," Sora responded. We were sitting on the prow of the ship.

Suddenly, I heard a very familiar voice from behind me. "I didn't think you'd come, Sora." We stood and turned in unison. It was Riku! "Good to see you again."

"Where did Donald and Goofy go?" Sora asked.

"And Hazel and Orion?" I added.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku asked, ignoring me. "More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking… about her." Riku stepped aside and revealed a girl with chin-length, dark red hair. She wore a white spaghetti-strap shirt with purple straps, a purple skirt, white and purple shoes, a black choker, a purple armband, and various bracelets. She seemed to be unconscious, but her eyes were wide open, and she was sitting up.

"Kairi!" Sora cried. So that was the girl he went on about…

"That's right. While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora ran to the two, but he was stopped. An arm with a silver hook instead of a hand barred his way.

"Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy." The arm belonged to a man who was wearing a red coat with gold lining and maroon cuffs. Under the coat, he wore a frilly, white shirt. He had an orange sash over his right shoulder that held his sword scabbard at his left hip. The man had maroon pants and white, knee-high socks and black shoes. He had curly black hair that draped over his shoulders and had a hooked nose that reminded me of a certain Hogwarts headmaster. He had a thin, curly mustache and a large, maroon hat that had a white feather. Next to him was a short man that had white hair, a large nose and a red, floppy cap. He had on a white and blue striped shirt, navy pants, and brown sandals.

To the left there were some Heartless that I had never seen before. They were dressed as pirates with red bandanas over their heads that obscured all of their faces asides their glowing yellow eyes and sharp-looking swords.

Sora glared at the sliver-haired boy. "Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?"

"The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."

I walked up to Sora's side. "You're stupid!" I shouted. How could he say that? "Sooner of later you'll be one of them!"

Riku shook his head. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong."

I couldn't believe this! This was Sora's best friend? "Riku…" I sighed.

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this for instance." Riku snapped his fingers. I jumped as Sora's shadow rose from the wooden floor and became a completely dark version of the brunette. It had glowing yellow eyes.

"You can go see your friends now, Sora," Riku said coldly. A trapdoor opened beneath Sora's feet. He fell into the darkness.

"Sora!" I shouted. I tried to jump after him, but pair of swords crossed in front of me.

"Ari," Riku said, "you're coming with me. I need to talk to you."

I felt apprehensive at this request. "What have you done with my friends?"

"Oh, they're fine."

"Please, Riku," I pleaded, "why are you doing all of this?"

"I'm trying to restore Kairi's heart, and Sora's not helping one bit. He stopped caring about us ever since he got that Keyblade and new friends. But you're different. I know you are. Join me, and I can help you find everyone you care about. I'll prove it to you. Come with me." He offered his hand to me. I hesitated before taking it, and he led me to a door. "Captain Hook, I need to use your quarters for a moment."

"You can't order me around me own ship, boy!" Hook spat.

"Don't forget about Maleficent," Riku countered.

Hook sighed. "Don't ye dare mess anything up, or you'll have me to answer to." Riku just waved his hand then picked up Kairi bridal style. He led me through a door and what most definitely was a captain's room. The floor was wood, just like the decks. In one corner was a piano. In the center of the room was a desk and chair. On the far side of the room was a trapdoor and a badly made up bed right next to it. I stared at it, or rather the occupant.

It was my best friend, Angelique Malfoy! She looked up as we walked in and then her pale blue eyes widened. "Ari? What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, that weird storm just came out of nowhere. Mother, Father, Conrad, Manny, and I were going camping." Conrad and Manny (or Manfred) were Angelique's older and younger brothers, respectively. "Of course, Father had to practically be forced to go. Anyways, those weird creatures appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. And then it all turned into a blur. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on a couch, with Riku looking at me. He told me about the Heartless and about… different worlds. Is it all true?"

"Yeah," I said. "I found it hard to believe myself. But for nearly a week now, I've been going through some worlds with Riku and Kairi's friend, Sora, and two new friends of his. I also found Hazel and Orion! We've all been looking for friends of ours, but our main goal is to keep other worlds from falling into darkness like ours did."

"How do you do that?"

I held out my left hand. "We use one of these." I called _Crabclaw_ to my hand. "It's a Keyblade, and this particular Keyblade is called _Crabclaw_. They can lock and unlock anything. They're also good at keeping the Heartless back. I _would_ use my wand but I _kinda_ left it at home…"

Angie narrowed her eyes at the blade and fingered something above her right shoulder. I looked closer and saw that she had a scabbard on her back. Riku spoke up. "You see what I can do for you? I've already found one of your friends. In return, I need your help: You have a Heart of Magic, and-"

"Hold on," I cut in. "What exactly is a Heart of Magic?"

"Maleficent told me that they come from your world, Hogwarts, only. And that they come around once a lifetime. They appear with a witch or wizard has a Keyblade. The last one was Albus Dumbledore. I was hoping that maybe you could help me find Kairi's heart with your power."

I dropped my gaze to the ground. _Should I really be helping Riku?_ I thought. _After all, he can summon the Heartless, and he seems darker than any of my other friends_. But my mother had told me something once: "Is Darkness really as bad as you make it out to be? I knew someone who used Dark Magic, but he fought on the good side in the war."

With these words on my heart, I looked up and met Riku's aqua eyes with my own green ones. "I'll help you."

Riku smiled. I felt a slight tickle, but I pushed it aside. "What do I have to do?" I asked.

"Just touch her shoulder and concentrate," Riku instructed.

I nodded and touched Kairi's shoulder. I concentrated as hard as I could on her and the descriptions of her Sora gave. I could feel a warm feeling from my contact with her shoulder, and it wasn't from her skin. I could feel a trail, like a rope, coming from her. I followed, mentally, down into the bowels of the ship. At the end of the trail, I felt warmth, just like from Kairi, and then I felt a lot more warmth, more than Kairi's, if that were possible. The strong warmth felt familiar for some reason.

I opened my eyes. When did I close them? So, Kairi's heart was close, very close, but why did that other light feel so familiar?

"So?" Riku asked. "Where's Kairi's heart?"

I met his eyes. _What should I say?_ "It's close, but I don't know exactly where."

"How close?"

I opened my mouth, but didn't get a word out. Captain Hook had burst in. "You haven't told me yet, is Wendy-?

"No," Riku responded. "She isn't."

"What?" Hook exclaimed. "So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?"

"There are seven, supposedly," Riku explained, "and Maleficent says he's not one of them." The silver-haired boy turned his back on the captain. "Hoist anchor as soon as possible. Leave all the dead weight behind, including her." **What?**I narrowed my eyes. No way was I saying where Kairi's heart was!

"After the trouble of capturing her?" the captain protested. "And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning, anyway?"

"Who knows? As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less." He really cared for her didn't he? But wait, so did Sora!

"You're wasting your time! The Heartless have devoured that girl's heart. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

"Ari just told me that it's close. I will find it no matter what."

"Uh, Captain…" a timid voice called from a pipe that descended through the floor.

"What?" Hook asked irritably.

"The prisoners have escaped. What's more, Peter Pan is with them." Prisoners… They were my friends! They _were_ okay!

"Blast that Peter Pan! All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee! Hop to it!

Hook stormed from the cabin. There was silence for a few moments before I finally broke it.

"You know," I stated, "I found Reaver."

Angie jumped from the messy bed and put a death grip on my shoulders. "Where is he?" she exclaimed.

"Whoa, easy! He's back on the Gummi ship, what we've been using to travel around the worlds."

"Does he miss me?" Angie asked in a voice usually reserved for babies. Wow.

"Uh…" I trailed off. Did Reaver really miss her? I had no clue. How could you tell on a rabbit that hardly ever moved? "Yes. He really misses you."

The trapdoor in the corner sprang open. I jumped. Sora crawled out followed by Orion, Hazel, Donald, Goofy, and a boy with flaming red hair wearing a green tunic with a brown belt, green leggings, dark green slipper-like shoes, and a green hat with a red feather. He was floating a few inches above the ground, which I found a little strange.

"Riku, wait!" Sora shouted. Riku picked up Kairi in his arms, bridal style. A pool of darkness appeared beneath his feet, and in front of him appeared the Shadow-Sora that he had summoned earlier. Riku looked at me.

"So, Ari, what's your answer?" the silver-haired boy asked. "Angie's chosen to join me." I stared at Kairi. I turned my gaze to Sora. He was smiling at Kairi, who twitched her fingers.

I widened my eyes. I finally understood. I looked Riku in the eyes. Was that… hope in his eyes? I turned to Hazel and winked.

"Okay," I said. "I'll join you."

Riku smiled. It looked nearly like a genuine smile. Behind him, a tall oval of darkness appeared. He backed through it. Angelique followed. I hesitated. Before I walked through, I turned and looked at Sora. His face was full of hurt. I winked at him. _I'll see you soon,_ I thought.

I turned, took a deep breath, and walked through the portal.


	14. Betrayal

Chapter Fourteen: Betrayal

Ariana fell through the portal. She shivered. Those portals were no fun. They were so cold, so… dark. She looked around. She seemed to be in a large room. As she stood, she noticed a large, heart-shaped hole in the wall. In the hole, there swirled many bright colors: blues, greens, pinks, and yellows. Around it was what seemed like pipes to an organ.

Angelique stood to her left with Riku on the Malfoy's other side. A pillar of green fire appeared before the trio. A woman wearing a black robe with purple trim and a black, horned headdress stepped from it. Her ivory skin gave her away: Maleficent.

* * *

Sora insisted on driving the Gummi ship as they returned to Traverse Town. He needed to take his mind off of what had happened back on Captain Hook's ship. He still hurt from the battle with the old codfish, but that wasn't why he needed the distraction. Why did Ari leave? Hazel kept telling him that Ari had a reason for it, but it was one that he couldn't figure out.

He jerked the controls a little bit to avoid an asteroid. One other thing the brunette couldn't figure out was why he had felt that strange… tickling sensation a few minutes before finding Kairi and Ari. It had felt familiar, but what was it?

Sora heard someone sit down in the copilot seat.

"Don't jerk the ship so much," he heard a certain voice quack. Of course Donald would say that.

"I thought you weren't supposed to distract the driver," Sora countered, repeating one of the duck's many sayings. He hated talking like that, but he wasn't in the mood for smiles and optimism. Everthing seemed to be falling apart.

The door slid open again. "Sora, why don't you get some sleep?" he heard Goofy ask calmly. "You've been drivin' this Jelli ship for three hours."

"Gummi ship, ya big palooka," Donald deadpanned.

The brunette sighed and stood. Goofy was right. Nothing could be accomplished if he sulked all the time. "Okay. Maybe everything'll look better tomorrow."

"That's the spirit!" Goofy praised.

Sora smiled softly and walked to the room he shared with Orion. He didn't realize how exhausted he was until his head hit the pillow. His eyes slid shut as he drifted into a dream.

* * *

Ariana sat in her bedroom and marveled at how her life had led her to this. Not three weeks ago, she had been a regular student enjoying her summer break. Now, though, she had a mystical weapon, had traveled to five different worlds (seven if one counted Monstro and Neverland), made friends with anthropomorphic animals, and discovered that she was a Princess of Magic.

The last one intrigued her the most. After Maleficent had appeared, she had elaborated on it.

* * *

"_Has Riku not already told you?" the witch questioned._

"_W-Well, he told me somewhat. They only happen once in a lifetime."_

"_They are chosen around the time that a Wielder first summons his Keyblade. The Prince or Princess of Magic's purpose is to aid the Keyblade's chosen one in any way possible, and the most common way this is achieved is by earning a Keyblade themselves. There was another one once, and she was a lot like you. I do believe she met her doom."_

_Ari took a deep, shuddering breath. How many other Hearts of Magic met a fate like the other girl's? That would have to wait for later. _ "_Riku told me that he needed help finding someone's heart."_

"_Yes, that is one of the abilities that you possess."_

"_Ari, did you find it?" Riku asked suddenly._

"_What's this, Riku?" Angie teased. "Oh, I see, Riku likes Kairi!"_

_Riku laughed. "Of course not. But it's like she's my little sister. I'd do anything for her."_

"_Your former friend sees her as less than that," Maleficent said. Ariana narrowed her eyes. That was a complete lie! And the dark witch knew it._

"_Yes," the silver-haired teen agreed after a long silence. His voice was dull. "He forgot his older brother."_

"_That's not true!" Ari wanted to shout, but she held her tongue. She was going to have to talk to Riku later, out of earshot of that pale witch._

* * *

Ariana was snapped out of her reverie by a knock on her bedroom door. She stood from her bed with the dark purple covers. That was one thing she did not like about the bedroom: It had nothing but dark colors decorating it. The walls were dark blue, the furniture was black, and the only two sources of light were the medium-sized window and the lamp.

Ari opened the door. Riku stood there, but he looked different. He wore a suit that was black and decorated with dark purple veins, dark boots, gloves, a white half-skirt, and the suit came up to just beneath his chin. His aqua eyes looked different somehow…

"Uh, hey Riku," Ari stammered. "What's with the-"

"Come with me," Riku ordered. His voice… It was almost as if someone were speaking in perfect unison with him. He grabbed the brunette's wrist. It was so tight!

"Hey! What're you doing?" She yanked against the hand.

"You're needed, Princess," Riku said.

"What? Y-You're not Riku."

The Riku look-alike smirked. A portal opened behind him. Ariana narrowed her eyes and summoned _Crabclaw_. She swung at his wrist. He let go and jumped back, summoning his sword, _Soul Eater_. The bat wing glistened in the light.

"Riku's" hand glowed purple, and a burst of something came from it. As Ari dove away, she felt intense heat on her back. It was Dark Fire.

She stood and fired off a round of Stunning Spells and leg-locker curses. "Riku" raised his free hand. A Dark shield appeared before him. He waited until the spells faded before running forward. He slashed down at her. She raised her Keyblade and blocked, her right hand pushing at the teeth. "Riku" tried to force her down. Her arms started to burn. She rolled backwards and cast _Thunder_. Lightning fell all over the corridor and hit him.

He twitched. After the spell ended, he floated a few inches off the floor. The surroundings turned darker. He disappeared before reappearing again, right behind Ari. He sailed through the air, sword first, and sliced her side. She hissed in pain. He continued this several times until he dived onto the ground, pillars of Darkness rising.

Ari panted heavily, blood pouring from wounds on her arms, back, and sides. There was no way she could win if he did that again.

While she was thinking, "Riku" smirked and threw another Dark Fira at her. Ariana widened her eyes. She couldn't raise her Keyblade in time. She couldn't move. It collided with her chest, singing her sweatshirt. She flew into the wall. Pain filled her head. As black spots filled her vision, she saw "Riku" walk over to her. She knew no more.

* * *

Sora stood in the First District of Traverse Town. It was nearly a day after locking Neverland's Keyhole and Ari left for some great plan. The brunette had a strange feeling in his stomach, though, that it wasn't going so great.

"So, when's Cid supposed to get finished with that Gummi block?" Hazel asked.

They stood behind Cid's shop and just before the doors to the Second District. They had found a Gummi block on Captain Hook's ship that the pirate may have stolen at one point.

"Now Hazel," Donald reprimanded. "You gotta be patient."

"You're one to talk," the gray-eyed girl snapped, her arms crossed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Donald retorted, his wizard's staff appearing in his hand – er, wing.

"Oh, nothing. Just that you have a hot head."

"Why, I outta-"

Hazel yelped and jumped down to an alley separated by a low wall. Donald waddled after her, staff held high.

"Maybe I should go calm Donald down," Goofy commented to no one in particular. He ran off after the other two, shouting things to try to calm down the enraged duck.

Orion sighed and shook his head. "You know, Sora, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often." Sora didn't answer. "Sora?"

The brunette in question stood there, staring at the wall about fifty feet away, yet not. He seemed to be a million miles away.

* * *

Where am I?

_Nobody answered him. He seemed to be floating in a library. The walls were dark. It must have been around sunset because orange light streamed through the window. As he watched, a little girl with auburn hair, a white shirt, and pink skirt crossed his vision. The girl looked familiar for some reason… She ran to where an elderly lady sat. The woman was small with thick, gray hair and a purple dress._

_The woman spoke in a timeless voice. "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the light will return."_

_This story, for some reason, felt familiar. He had heard this before, but where?_

"_So, listen child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away. Do you understand, Kairi?"_

Kairi? _What was going on?_

* * *

Sora's eyes widened suddenly. He turned around, looking for any sign that that had just happened. "Huh?"

"Are you okay, Sora?" Orion asked. Sora could still hear Hazel screaming and Donald swearing.

"Uh, yeah."

_Kairi… Did you call me?_ He didn't have time to ponder on it. Cid walked up.

"I installed that navigation gummi," the blonde man said. "But ya know? That place is crawling with Heartless. Don't say I didn't warn you."

_What?_ Sora shook his head. "Thanks, Cid."

Cid looked around. "Where's Ari? Normally, she'd be runnin' around with Aerith and Yuffie."

Sora looked away. "She left."

Cid stared for a moment. "Yuffie's not gonna be happy. You'd better bring her back, ya hear?" The blonde glared at Sora.

"Don't worry about it!" the brunette declared.

* * *

Later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy sat in the cockpit of the Gummi ship. Hazel was nursing some burns in her room, and Orion was asleep.

Sora leaned against his armrest and sighed, a frown on his face. Donald turned and squawked angrily. "Sora!"

Goofy glanced at the brunette and immediately knew what was wrong. "Now, just remember what Donald said to ya: no frowning, no sad faces."

Sora shook his head. "How can you be so cheerful? There's still no sign of your king. Aren't you worried?"

"Aw, phooey," Donald scoffed.

"The king told us to go out and find the key bearer," Goofy explained, "and we found you. So long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay."

Sora smiled again. Donald and Goofy always knew the best things to say to chase away doubt. "Okay."

* * *

Riku smirked. Two girls lay side-by-side, one with auburn hair and unfocused blue eyes, the other brunette and scratched from the battle. Her clothes were stained red with blood. He suddenly frowned. This was what the man wanted, right? And anyways, Kingdom Hearts would bring him strength. Why did he feel so… unsure?

He heard a roar in the distance. It seemed as if the guest was getting impatient.

* * *

The next day, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hazel, and Orion disembarked the Gummi ship. The platform they landed on was a peninsula of cobblestone. Around it was a wall of waterfalls that were going in reverse.

Hazel commented on it. "What do you call waterfalls that are going up? Waterups? No, that doesn't sound right."

Goofy turned and pointed at something in the distance. "Gawrsh, look at that!" In the distance was a large, copper-looking castle.

Sora stepped to the edge. "I know this place…"

"Why's that?" Orion inquired.

"I don't know," Sora answered. "I feel this warmth inside, right here." He placed his hand over his heart. Indeed, his chest felt warmer than it should have been.

Hazel scoffed. "That's your stomach."

"I'm serious, Hazel!"

A roar sounded in the distance. No, it wasn't that distant. This was pretty close. The quintet jumped.

"What was that?" Hazel asked, trembling.

Sora ignored her. "Let's go."

There were platforms scattered everywhere. They jumped carefully. Hazel helped her twin. He wasn't used to this jumping thing whatsoever. A couple of times, he fell to the water, which was somehow… solid. He could walk along the surface of the pond as if it were land.

On one platform, Sora paused. He could hear voices. He nearly gasped at the first voice. _Riku_!

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless… So tell me, how'd you get here?"

There was a deep growl. "I simply believed. Nothing more to it." This voice was deep and feral. "When our world fell into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her again no matter what the cost. I believed I would find her. So, here I am. She must be here. I will have her back!" the voice roared.

"Take her if you can," Riku challenged.

The deep voice roared. Sora could hear heavy thuds. He saw something big and dark jump to Riku's platform. The figure looked like some kind of mixture between a boar, buffalo, lion, wolf, and bear. It was wearing dark pants and a purple cape. He heard the slash of a blade and an even heavier thud.

That was it.

"Stop!" Sora shouted. He stood before the creature and spread his arms wide. This was going too far!

"So, you finally made it," Riku said. "About time. I've been waiting for you. We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you."

Hazel narrowed her eyes.

"Riku…" Sora whispered. He took a few steps towards his friend.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters."

"What are you talking about? What about Ari?"

"Let the Keyblade choose its true master." Riku raised his gloved hand as if to grasp something.

Three Wishes appeared in Sora's hand. It pulled away from his grip. He stumbled forward a little. He grasped it in both hands before it disappeared in a ball of white light.

"Huh?" Sora gasped.

"What's going on?" Orion muttered.

The _Kingdom Key_ appeared in Riku's right hand, _Sora's_ Keyblade.

"Maleficent was right," Riku said. "You don't have what it takes to save Ari and Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."

"But that's impossible," Sora murmured. "How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

Riku scoffed. "You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part's over now." He dispelled the Keyblade. "Here, go play hero with this." He tossed something towards Sora. It was his old, wooden sword. He was curious for a split second how it had survived the storm at the islands, but remembered what was going on.

The brunette fell to his knees. _No… It can't be happening._ Hazel knelt next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Goofy," Donald started, "let's go. We have to remember our mission."

Hazel looked up from where she knelt. "What?"

"Oh!" Goofy exclaimed. "Well, I know the king told us to follow the key and all… But…" He glanced sadly at Sora as Donald crossed to Riku. Then he too crossed. They_ left_.

Hazel glared at Riku. "You jerk-face! First you take my sister. Then you waltz up and steal his Keyblade! Now his friends? Are you that heartless?"

"How could you?" Orion questioned the two anthropomorphic animals. There was no answer as they left for the castle.

Sora stared at the toy sword. He glanced up as he heard heavy footsteps. The creature fell in front of him with a grunt of pain.

How could he have forgotten? He had been wallowing in his self-pity too much to realize that the beast was injured. Sora stood and ran to his side. "Hey, don't move. You're hurt."

"Why…" the beast grunted. "Why did you… you come here? I came to fight for Belle." Gingerly, he stood. "And though I am on my own, I will fight." He took a few shaky steps forward. "I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

"We came here to find our sister," Orion started.

"And since Donald and Goofy abandoned him," Hazel finished, "we're helping Sora."

Sora bent down to pick up his wooden sword. He stood next to the beast. "I came here for Kairi, Riku and Ari, and I'm not gonna give up now."

The new quartet stood at the edge of the platform and gazed at the copper castle, Hollow Bastion.

* * *

**A/N: So, how was it? All I am asking for is constructive criticism. I've also been feeling somewhat uncertain about Ariana. I was reading the infamous My Immortal (plus commentary), and all this stuff about how bad of a character Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way is makes me uncertain.**

**Well forget that for a second. Who saw the newest trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3D that just came out a few days ago?**

**Thank you all for reading!**

**God bless!**


	15. The Sacrifice

Chapter Fifteen: The Sacrifice

Ariana opened her eyes. Her side and back burned. Why? Then she remembered. Riku had battled her. But it wasn't Riku. Somehow, she had to be stronger and protect Kairi better.

She gingerly reached into her pocket and pulled out a green battle. A healing Potion. She grimaced at the taste before warmth filled her body. She could feel her wounds healing. She sat up and tried to ignore the dizziness. Once it went away, she stood and picked up Kairi's limp form.

A shock ran through the brunette's body. An image appeared in her mind. Four figures stood on a platform. Three of them she recognized instantly. _What are they doing here?_ The image vanished as soon as it had appeared.

She took a step forward. Pain shot up her leg. Not all of her injuries were healed, and carrying Kairi wouldn't help. As she walked, it got easier. Soon, she reached the other side of the Grand Hall.

When she reached the next room, she gasped. Eight clear pods lined the walls. Six of them held a sleeping girl each. She felt a pang in her heart when she saw Jasmine. So that was _Riku_ that took her?

Ariana wanted to free them all, but there was no telling if they would wake as soon as they were released. It was with a heavy heart that she left the room.

* * *

The quartet of Sora, Hazel, Orion, and the Beast reached the Castle Gates. The doors in front of them were large, brown, and heavy. The Beast opened them with ease.

"Be on your guard," he growled warningly. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?"

Sora, Orion, and Hazel said nothing but stepped forward.

"Belle?"

Orion turned and found the Beast staring at a dark figure. She was wearing a yellow dress, but the figure didn't look real. She disappeared. A Shadow took her place. The Beast shook with anger. He roared and pounded for the doors, which closed after him.

"Looks like we're on our own," Sora murmured as he lifted his wooden sword and stared at the unyielding doors.

"Quit while you can," a voice said. The trio turned. Riku!

"No," Sora protested. "Not without Kairi and Ari."

Darkness appeared around the silver-haired teen. It vanished, leaving Riku with different clothes. He wore a dark suit with a purple chest and Heartless insignia, a white half-skirt, and dark purple boots. "The darkness will destroy you."

"At least _I _don't have a hula skirt!" Hazel shouted.

"You're wrong, Riku," Sora said, ignoring Hazel. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!"

Hazel smiled. But why was Sora going on about his heart?

"Really… Well, we'll just have to see about that!" With a wave of his hand, Hazel and Orion flew to opposite sides of the circular room. His hand was covered in darkness. He threw it at the brunette boy.

Sora steeled himself for his end.

* * *

Ariana had to stop. Her side was hurting again, and when she looked down, she could see fresh blood. _Looks like the potion didn't heal everything._ She laid Kairi on the ground.

"Ari?"

Ariana jumped and turned. Angelique was walking up to her, katana in hand.

"You shouldn't be here. You should still be unconscious."

Ari gasped. What was going on? "Angie, what are you saying?"

"You don't understand, do you? You need to be back in the Grand Hall with the other Princesses. Maleficent needs you so that she can save the worlds!"

Ariana's green eyes searched Angie's blue ones. "So she can do _what_? You can't honestly believe her!"

"I have to," Angie whispered. "All she's been doing is helping me. And she says, after she uses her powers, everything will go back to normal."

Ariana narrowed her eyes. She knew in the first place that Maleficent was no good, but to manipulate people like that? "Angie, you have to believe me. Maleficent's using you! It's not going back to normal with her around. And what does she want-"

She felt sleepy all of a sudden. Her eyelids started to droop. What was going on? Slowly, she turned and saw Maleficent standing behind her. _A sleeping spell!_ Ariana thought as she fell to the ground.

* * *

Sora could feel himself freezing up in terror. This was the end. _No! It's not the end! My friends will help!_

The searing Darkness never hit. He opened his eyes. Goofy stood in front of him, his shield blocking the Darkness. "Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!"

"You'd betray your king?" Riku asked.

"Not on your life!" Goofy answered. Now how did that work? "But I'm not gonna betray Sora either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!"

Sora smiled.

"See ya later, Donald!" Goofy waved. "Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy!" the duck responded. "We'll tell him together." He waddled up to Sora at the same time as Hazel and Orion. "Well, you know… All for one and one for all."

Hazel slapped Donald.

At first, the duck looked mad fit to burst, but he calmed down. "I guess I deserved that."

"Oh, you'd better believe it."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora, Hazel, and Orion," Goofy said.

"Thanks a lot…" Sora murmured with his head bowed. "Donald, Goofy." There were no words that could express his gratitude. He just wished that he could repay them.

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku asked scathingly.

"I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart."

Orion smiled. Sora was getting his spirit back. Hazel cocked her head. That was two sappy mini-speeches in just as many minutes. This guy was good.

"Your heart?" the silver-haired boy mocked. "What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me… then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"

_Okay, now you're just showing off,_ Hazel thought.

Riku summoned the _Kingdom Key_. It disappeared. He gasped.

An orb of light appeared around Sora's right hand. In it appeared _Three Wishes_.

Riku growled and summoned _Soul Eater_. He vanished and reappeared just before Sora, who hastily blocked. He countered by slashing at him a few times.

Hazel and Donald shared a look and nodded at each other. The brunette girl lowered her wand and charged a _Fire_ spell. Donald stood in front of her. He took aim at Riku, who was fending off Sora, and raised his staff, ready to cast _Fira_. As one, they fired the spells, which combined to form the terrifying _Firaga_. The fireball hit Riku and sent him back.

Orion took his chance and threw all of the binding spells he knew at the silver-haired boy. First, he conjured up a strong, leg-locker curse followed by the body-bind spell and a few **Incarcerous**. Riku's body glowed purple as he was adding the last spell. The curses and spells canceled out while the ropes burned away.

Goofy came spinning on and caught Riku's jaw with his shield. Riku cut him with his sword and sent Goofy flying. Sora jumped over, but Riku caught his jacket and sent him flying into a wall. He raised his sword to strike.

Sora narrowed his eyes as he called upon his power. His Keyblade glowed yellow, and he jumped around as his Keyblade led him, almost invisible to the naked eye.

Riku knelt and tiredly got to his feet. His clothes returned to normal. He panted heavily. He gathered his strength and ran.

The doors behind the group opened. The Beast walked in. "So, your heart won this battle," Beast said, curiosity lacing his deep voice.

Sora nodded. He climbed the stairs in front of him. There was a door down a short passageway. In the center was the Heartless insignia. He ran over to it and turned the knob. It wouldn't budge. There wasn't a keyhole either.

Orion inspected the door. "It looks like a puzzle, with the pieces missing."

"Maybe the pieces are around here somewhere," Goofy pondered.

"Look!" Donald shouted. "There's another door."

Sure enough, there was a green door further along the platform to the left. Hazel opened it. On the other side was a library.

* * *

Maleficent stood in the middle of the room with the eight pods. They were all filled.

"Purest of Hearts!" the witch declared. "Reveal to me the Keyhole!"

From six of the pods came streams of pink light. Purple came from another. From the last came nothing. _Oh,_ Maleficent thought to herself. She opened two of the pods.

* * *

The sextet sighed. They had finally found all of the pieces for the door, and it had taken a lot of roundabout routes to find them. First, they'd had to reorganize sets of books so that they could reach other parts of the library. That had been difficult enough, what with the Beast occasionally getting frustrated. Then the next room happened to be a loft a short distance above the Entrance Hall.

Really?

Hazel nearly face-palmed herself. She could have simply used her broom to fly herself up there. But why didn't she think of it? _Why?_

When they'd gotten to the loft, they'd found the four pieces left and right. Now they finally stood in front of the door. It opened as soon as all the pieces slid into place.

The next room held platforms, one of which was attached to cables and a track. There was a switch in front of it. Hazel hit it, and the group of six teleported onto the platform. It started to move…

"It's a lift," Orion muttered. The lift stopped and deposited them on another platform.

They continued up the castle very much in this manner. Many times, they met powerful Heartless. One type was made up of the Defenders. They resembled knights in purple and blue armor. Their mouths had the now very familiar jagged line shape. Their arms were enormous and ape-like. On one of their arms were shields that strongly resembled a dog's head, the mouth of which moved and bit them. Their yellow eyes glowed.

Then there were the Darkballs. They were true to their name. They were spherical in shape and black in color. They had three tentacles: two of them were like arms, and the last one was like a tail.

The Heartless appeared everywhere they went. They were no match, though, for Sora's light, Donald's temper, Goofy's protectiveness, Hazel and Orion's magic, and the Beast's strength.

The heroes valiantly climbed the towers…

"Are we there yet?"

"Donald, you asked this five minutes ago. _No_, we are not there yet."

"Calm down, Hazel, Donald," Orion muttered.

The Beast growled impatiently.

* * *

Riku, Angelique, and Maleficent stood together in the Grand Hall. The heart-shaped portal before them shimmered. The sleeping forms of Kairi and Ariana lay side-by-side near the doorway.

Riku stepped forward, again dressed in his dark suit. "So, I see the path has emerged at last."

"Yes," Maleficent agreed. "The Keyhole to the darkness."

"Unlock it and the Heartless will overrun this world."

Angie looked up at this. What? But what had happened to saving the worlds? What happened to Riku? An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.

"What do I care?" Maleficent scoffed. "The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use its power to rule all worlds."

Angie started to back away.

"Such confidence," said Riku. He held out his hand. In a flash of black and purple appeared a Keyblade. It was a simple one of a red guard and black handle, blade, and teeth. The teeth formed the outline of a heart. It lacked a Keychain. It wasn't complete. This Keyblade was created from the hearts of six of the Princesses of Heart.

It lacked Kairi's heart.

It was okay, though. The delivery boy was coming.

"Oh!" Maleficent exclaimed. She smiled… and frowned in the same second. Something was wrong. "Impossible! The Princesses of Heart are all here!" She turned to the limp form of Kairi. "It must be her."

"Without her heart," Riku murmured, "she will never be able to release her power."

They could hear an explosion.

"The king's fools are here," Maleficent mused. "I'll deal with them myself. You two stay here and guard the Princesses." She disappeared in a Corridor of Darkness.

Riku smirked.

Angie turned. She started to run.

Riku caught this.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Angelique nervously drew her katana.

* * *

The group of six reached the Castle Chapel, a rather dark room. It was circular in shape, and the ceiling disappeared in darkness. Green fire burned in the brackets around the room.

Maleficent appeared in a portal of green fire. "I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable.

"_Liar!_" Hazel screamed, her wand trained at the dark witch.

"After coming this far," Sora agreed, "there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"Where's Ariana?" Orion shouted.

"You poor, simple fools," Maleficent scolded. "You think you can defeat me? Me the mistress of all evil?"

She spread her arms wide and raised her staff. The ground she stood on rose into the air. Darkballs appeared everywhere. While everyone else concentrated on them, Sora jumped up and struck the rock platform. He grinned as pieces of rock fell.

Pain exploded on his back. When he looked around, he saw green fireballs sailing after his friends. Orion paused after defeating the last Darkball and raised his wand. "**Protego!**" A translucent shield appeared around them and reflected the blasts. He ran up to join Sora.

"What do we do?" the wizard demanded.

Sora pointed at the rock. "If we bring it down, we can get to her."

Orion nodded once. "**Reducto**!" Large chunks of rock exploded. Maleficent's platform fell to the ground. She raised her staff and began chanting a spell.

Goofy caught this and threw his shield and nicked the witch in the chin. She growled. "_Thunder_!" Goofy rolled out of the way.

While she was distracted, Donald raised his staff high. Cold blue light gathered. He pointed it at her and released a massive ball of ice. It rocketed and slammed into Maleficent. Donald had learned how to cast _Blizzaga_.

Maleficent raised her platform into the air. "Meteors of heaven," she cried, "unleash thy fury!" Enormous orbs of blue fell from the ceiling. They exploded on the ground, sending the group flying everywhere. The Beast picked himself up and launched himself at the rock. He grabbed onto it with his claws. It crashed down onto the ground.

The Beast climbed up and attacked Maleficent with his claws. The witch retaliated with _Dark Firaga_. Sora countered with his own attacks and spells. Hazel scooted around behind the witch. She launched spell after spell at Maleficent.

Maleficent hunched over. A Corridor of Darkness appeared behind her. She backed into it. She was gone. Amazingly, she left it open.

Maleficent appeared in another part of the castle. She was panting heavily. She felt as if she had run into one of those other Keyblade _brats_ again.

Riku appeared behind her, carrying the newly formed _Keyblade of People's Hearts_. "Do you need help?" he taunted.

"Riku!" He turned. There was Sora again with his new friends.

Donald gasped. "Is that-"

"Yes," Riku finished. "A Keyblade. But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the true power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate…"

He suddenly turned and stabbed Maleficent!

"Behold!"

Sora was stunned. Why would Riku do that? "Wha-"

Maleficent glowed purple where the Keyblade stabbed her.

"Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!" He withdrew the Keyblade and backed into a Corridor of Darkness.

Maleficent breathing was labored. She glowed with green light. "This is it!" she exclaimed happily as she gazed at her hands. "This power! Darkness… The true darkness!" A pillar of green fire and darkness appeared around her. The group drew their respective weapons.

The column fell away from Maleficent, revealing an enormous black dragon with see-through wings, a dark purple underbelly, and yellow eyes and maw. She stomped on the ground with her clawed paws. Shockwaves of fire spread where she stepped.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy rolled to avoid it. Hazel and Orion backed away. The Beast jumped over and latched onto the dragon's scales with his claws. He climbed up to behind her head and clawed her. She roared and shook around. The Beast fell.

Maleficent opened her yellow maw. Green fire spewed from it. The twins got small burns, but Donald cast a healing spell. Their burns all but vanished.

Sora had an idea. He launched his Keyblade at the dragon's head. It spun like a buzz saw. It caught her jaw. _Three Wishes_ reappeared in his hand. He threw it again and again. He decided to call it Strike Raid. When he finally stopped, he doubled over and panted. Man, he hadn't thought about how much energy the Strike Raid would take.

The dragon opened her mouth and nearly took a bite out of the brunette. Goofy jumped in front of him and blocked with his shield. Maleficent's head struck it and drooped. The Beast and Donald took their chances and threw every blow they could.

Maleficent woke from her daze and snapped at them. Donald flew into the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Hazel raised her wand. "**Stupefy**!"

This only angered the dragon. She opened her jaws and breathed green fire. It covered the ground and lingered. Sora hissed in pain. His burns from this battle and the previous ones were really getting to him.

He had one last thing to try. "**Glacius**!" Streams of ice and snow sailed from the Keyblade and froze the dragon.

Maleficent roared and collapsed to the ground. She wasn't moving. Her body burned in green flames. There was nothing left but her robe.

Riku reappeared. "How ironic." He stood on her robe. "She was just another puppet after all."

"What?" Hazel demanded.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Riku explained. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool." He backed away into another Dark Corridor.

"He has a habit of doing that," Hazel remarked. Nobody answered.

There was no other way out of the room, so they backtracked through Maleficent's still opened Dark Corridor. There, Goofy revived Donald with a Potion, and the others took the time to heal and rest.

Sora sat against part of the wall. He was just so tired. From the looks of everyone else, so were they. They had done so much fighting that day, it was no wonder everyone was wiped out. How much longer could they continue like this?

No. They had to keep going. Kairi, Ari, and Riku depended on them.

There was a sudden noise. He angled his head at it. Part of the circular wall vanished in white light, revealing a corridor and a panting figure.

Sora stood as the figure collapsed to her knees. Hazel and Orion recognized her instantly. It was Angelique! Sora ran to her side. She was bruised and scratched, and her jeans and black vest were torn in places. The gray tank top underneath was untouched.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Hi-Potion, a more effective version of the Potion. He tipped it into her mouth. She gagged at the taste. Her wounds vanished.

Angie looked around at the group. She nervously waved. "Um, hi."

"What happened to you?" Sora demanded.

"I fought Riku," she whispered. "It was scary. He kept going on about the darkness and about how he needs the Princesses. You have to stop him."

Sora looked away. It seemed like the Riku he knew was gone. He prayed that there would be some way to save him.

"I'll stay here with her," the Beast said. "She's too weak to fight, and this is something that you and your friends must do."

Sora nodded. He turned to the corridor and started running. He could hear Donald, Goofy, Hazel, and Orion pelting after him. There was no time to rest. Riku had hurt someone else.

They reached a chamber that held eight pods, six of which were filled. His heart sank when he found Alice and Jasmine inside two of them. He ran past them. Before him was an upper level. On wither side were staircases. He raced up the one on the left. Donald and Hazel managed to follow him before a barrier appeared. They couldn't get through.

His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw two very familiar girls on the other side of the floor. "Kairi! Ariana!" He knelt next to them and gently shook them. "Kairi! Ari! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use." He turned and saw Riku sitting on top of a heart-shaped portal of swirling colors. The silver-haired teen gestured at Kairi. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

"What?" Sora gasped. He then realized something very important. "You… You're not Riku."

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps." As he spoke, he jumped from the portal and floated to the ground, black Keyblade in hand.

Sora glanced at Kairi. "The Princess…? Kairi's a Princess?"

"Just as the other girl is Princess of Magic. Without their power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time Kairi awakened."

Sora narrowed his eyes. This guy wasn't making any sense! "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

The man possessing Riku smirked. "But first, you must give the Princess back her heart."

What? All of a sudden, his chest seemed to explode in pain, right where his heart was. He staggered and fell to his knees, where he gasped for breath.

"Sora!" Hazel shouted as she knelt next to him.

"What's-" Sora panted.

"Don't you see yet?" the man taunted. "The Princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi… Kairi's inside me?" It all made sense: Why she vanished when the islands were destroyed, why he kept hearing that voice, why he saw that vision in Traverse Town, why Ariana left… She had to leave to protect Kairi!

"I know all there is to know," said the man.

"Tell me," Sora gasped. "Who are you?"

"It is I," the man whispered, "Ansem the Seeker of Darkness!" Ansem walked forward. Sora could hear his footsteps. He heard Donald and Hazel cry out when they were forced to the stairs and another barrier appeared. Ansem stopped just in front of the brunette and tightened his grip on the black Keyblade. "So, I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into Kingdom Hearts and everlasting darkness!" Ansem raised the Keyblade, ready to cast the boy into the darkness.

_Sora!_

He was filled with sudden strength. He hastily summoned his Keyblade and blocked Ansem's strike. He pushed with all his might against the dark Keyblade. "Forget it!" he panted as he climbed to his feet, still holding Ansem back. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

He pushed Ansem away.

Ansem dashed forward and slashed twice. Sora rolled out of the way and countered with three strikes. Ansem turned and caught Sora's jacket with the teeth of the _Keyblade of People's Hearts_. He threw the boy into the barrier and followed by throwing his darkness-covered Keyblade. Sora barely managed to block the blade, but he couldn't block the darkness.

Ansem spun as Sora stood and caught Sora's side. Sora winced by brought _Three Wishes_ on Ansem's arm. Ansem drew back his left hand and threw _Dark Firaga_. Sora parried and took his chance to strike. He tried to get another one in, but Ansem blocked with a shield.

The possessed teen jumped high and slammed the black Keyblade into the ground. Dark fire spread and caught Sora's yellow shoes. The brunette hopped on the spot, trying to avoid the flames.

Ansem floated off the ground and glowed purple. The surroundings turned dark. He vanished and reappeared behind Sora, Keyblade leading. Sora barely dodged. Ansem reappeared and caught Sora's back. He did this several more times before crashing into the ground, sending up pillars of darkness everywhere.

Sora panted and threw his Keyblade in a Strike Raid. After that was finished, Ansem was in a daze. Sora took his chance and tried a new spell, one that Hazel barely had time to teach before they'd reached Hollow Bastion. "**Stupefy**!" Ansem fell back. Riku's possessed body sparked with purple electricity.

Her mind was muddled. _What's going on?_ She blinked open her green eyes. _That's right_. She was still in Hollow Bastion. She sat up.

Ansem dropped his black Keyblade before vanishing. The barriers dropped. Donald and Goofy joined Sora while Hazel and Orion ran to their sister.

"Ari!" they shouted. She was awake and blinking at her surroundings.

"Hazel." Ariana smiled. "Ori."

"Sora!" Donald cried from near the portal. "Sora look!"

"The… The Keyhole!" Goofy stammered.

Ari stood. The Keyhole wasn't complete. She could tell. It needed Kairi's power. She didn't have time to voice this. Sora stepped towards the portal. He pointed _Three Wishes_ at it, but nothing happened. No locking, nothing.

"It won't work," Ariana explained. "The Keyhole needs one more heart."

Sora turned in surprise and smiled. "Ari! You're okay! But…" His smile vanished. "What can we do?"

Orion put a hand to his chin. "The Keyhole can only be opened by the seven Princesses of Heart."

"And the Princess of Magic," Ari added.

"So, we have to wake up Kairi," Hazel finished.

"I think you're right," Sora said. "If we can free her heart…" He glanced at the redhead, wishing with all his heart that she would help somehow. "But… But how?" An idea formed in his head. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts… I wonder."

Ariana widened her eyes. Surely he wasn't thinking…? No. He couldn't. He wouldn't. "Sora, what're you thinking?"

Sora closed his eyes, look of determination on his face. Almost as if he were steeling himself.

No.

"Sora?" Goofy asked.

The brunette boy walked away from the portal.

"What're you doing?" Orion demanded.

"You'd better not be doing what I think you're doing!" Hazel threatened.

Sora bent down and picked up the black Keyblade. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, almost as if it knew what he planned. His palms were sweaty, and his gloves were drenched.

"Sora wait!" Ariana shouted, touching his shoulder.

"Wait!"

Sora held it in his right hand. His instincts were screaming no, but his heart was telling him yes. He looked around at all his friends. He was so glad to be with them before he did it. He was upset that he wouldn't see Riku and Kairi one last time.

He smile at them, trying to show them that everything was fine. It was going to work out. He turned the _Keyblade to People's Hearts_ around…

…And plunged it into his chest.

"_No!_" Ariana screamed.

Several things happened at once. The Keyblade fell to the ground. A ball of light flew from his chest and sailed into Kairi's. Her purple-blue eyes opened. The portal flashed. His body started to shimmer with white light.

Sora started to fall. His sky blue eyes slid closed. There was a ghost of a smile on his face. Everything was going to be fine. Ariana caught him. Kairi stood.

"Sora!"

She raced to his side. He vanished before she could touch him.

* * *

**A/N:**

… **I got nothing.**

**Oh! Just to make sure, vote before this story is finished.**


	16. Can it Be?

Chapter Sixteen: Can it Be?

Ariana couldn't believe it. Sora, the boy she loved as a brother, was gone. Just… gone. Specks of light still lingered from where he vanished. She had been holding him, and he was just gone. Just like that.

It felt like a heavy stone rested on her heart. Wait, it was _real_. It intensified. It was getting hard for her to breathe. She had to sit down, but she couldn't move. It started hurting.

"Ari?" Orion asked. He stood next to her and put a hand on her arm and another on her forehead. He gasped. She was burning up.

Unconsciously, Ariana held out her hands. Sparks appeared around both. In her left hand appeared _Radiant Sky_ and in her right appeared the _Kingdom Key_. Hazel stared. The _Kingdom Key_ was Sora's Keyblade. But how was this happening? _Why?_

Immediately, Ariana felt something rise up in her, something waking up. She couldn't fight against it. She dropped the Keyblades and clutched her head, trying to fight against the rising headache. She whimpered helplessly. She was dimly aware of her knees buckling and Orion catching her. The pain kept increasing. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Her world turned black.

* * *

My sky blue eyes opened.

… What was going on?

Then I became aware of a pair of hands holding me up. "Where am I?" I finally asked. I gasped. My voice was high pitched and… _girly_?

"We're in Hollow Bastion," the boy with black hair answered. His accent was strange. Maybe it was British? He looked at me strangely. "Are you feeling okay?"

"A small headache," I replied. What was wrong with my voice? It was British!

I heard an explosion. I sat up. Little black ant-like things were attacking a brunette girl, a duck and a dog. I rubbed my eyes. Was there something wrong with my brain?

I stood and, with the flick of my right wrist, summoned my Keyblade of dark gray metal and in my reverse grip. I glared at the thingies. A name for them, like a long-forgotten memory, sprang into my mind: Heartless.

I dashed into action. I chose one of the Heartless that was going after a red-haired girl. I slashed to the left, then the right and knocked it into the air. I jumped up. I slashed at the Heartless until it disappeared into black mist.

The rest of the Heartless stopped attacking. A dark portal appeared. Out stepped a strange man. He had tan skin, long white hair, and orange eyes. He wore a black, high-collared, leather coat, a long white vest, white gloves, and black pants and boots. The coat and vest exposed much of his chest and a strange insignia: a red heart crossed by black thorns.

"So, you've awakened at last, Princess," he said to the red-haired girl.

"Who are you?" I shouted. This guy screamed bad news.

"You don't recognize me, Ariana?" the man asked. Who's Ariana? "I am Ansem, Seeker of Darkness!"

"I've never met you in my life! And my name's not Ariana!"

Ansem stared intently at me. I could feel my muscles tense. I readied my Keyblade in my right hand. Who were all these people? How did they know me?

Finally, Ansem spoke. "Ah, I see your heart has taken over another body. It must've happened when the boy released this Princess's heart." He stepped toward the red-haired Princess.

I ran forward and stepped between them. "You're not touching her. I may not know who these people are, but… I feel something for them!"

Ansem laughed. I had to resist the urge to shudder violently. "Of course you would. There are three hearts in that body, three different perspectives of them. Yours just happens to be dominant."

…

Huh? How was that supposed to answer anything? "What are you talking about?"

"Just look at yourself."

I looked away from him. It couldn't be, could it? I looked down. I gasped. I was wearing a torn blue and white hoodie. I could see a purple shirt underneath. And blue jeans. I never wore blue jeans. Ever. And it wasn't just the clothes. No… I was a _girl_!

I wracked my brain. What was the last thing I remembered? That was easy. Painfully easy. The last thing I remembered was that desert and _him_.

"Yes," Ansem muttered. "Now, release the Princess of Magic's heart."

The brown-haired girl raised a stick. Her name came to me easily: Hazel. She cried something, and crimson light flew from it. A Shadow jumped and intercepted.

"What happened to my sister?" Hazel screamed.

Ansem smirked. "It is exactly as I said. Her heart sleeps because of him."

"But…" the dog, Goofy, started. "How do we get Ari back?"

A memory that didn't belong to me ran through my head. A cold, black Keyblade, pain in a chest that wasn't mine, a feeling of weightlessness…

I knew what had to be done. Not for me, but for this girl I'd possessed, for the people here. They needed her more. Anyways, I didn't belong here.

I bent down and picked up the cold Keyblade. "I shouldn't be here," I whispered. "I'm so glad I got to know you in the small amount of time."

"Wait a second," Donald the duck muttered. "Is it you? You aren't-"

It was too late. I plunged the Keyblade into my chest. I gasped as the cold metal pierced my skin. Everything was fading…

* * *

Hazel watched as two orbs of light left her sister's sparkling form. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ansem smirk again. She turned as he fired a ray of darkness at Ariana. It hit her, and her now green eyes opened, filled with alarm. And then…

… she too vanished.

Ansem's smirk grew wider as the portal flashed again. A Keyhole appeared. The black Keyblade vanished into six orbs of light.

"We have to leave," Orion ordered. He started down the stairs.

"But what about-" Hazel started.

"Orion's right," Goofy said. "We can't take on Ansem alone. We need to go and get some help."

"And we need to make sure Angelique and the Beast are okay," Orion finished.

Kairi hadn't moved. "The darkness is coming. We have to leave. But I can't leave him!"

Hazel turned. She could hear dainty footsteps coming up the stairs. The other six Princesses of Heart ran up to meet them.

"Go, Hazel," Jasmine said. "We can hold it back until you get help."

"Okay," the brunette muttered. She steeled herself. "Let's go." She knew that she was possibly leaving Ariana and Sora behind, but she had no choice. She had to protect everyone else. It was the wisest thing to do.

Orion, Angelique, and Hazel led Kairi, Donald, and Goofy back down through the castle. Every time she looked back, Angie could see wave after wave of Shadows. Sure, they were weak. But she doubted they could hold off that many Heartless for long. Kairi couldn't even fight.

They had to make it back to the Gummi ship. They just had to. Ariana and Sora would've wanted them to. She blinked back tears. She couldn't break down. Slytherins don't _break down_. That and the others needed her to be strong.

The group made it to the Entrance Hall before Kairi stopped in the middle of the circular room.

"Kairi, come on!" Orion shouted. He wasn't going to lose anyone else.

"I'm not leaving him!" Kairi responded. She stubbornly crossed her arms. Orion wasn't sure if she meant Sora or Riku. It didn't matter anyways. Sora was probably a Heartless and Riku's entire being was taken over by Ansem.

Two small Shadows appeared behind her.

"Look out, Kairi!" Donald warned. He summoned his staff and stood protectively in front of her, his wings spread wide. The two small Heartless stared at him with their empty yellow eyes. Donald whacked one on the head with his staff. One of them tried to dodge around him to Kairi and the other scrambled over to the twins. It stood in front of them and looked between them.

Hazel raised her wand. "Stay away!" She wiped away tears. Her entire arm was shaking. There was something familiar – No. There was nothing familiar about Heartless. She opened her mouth to mutter a curse.

"Wait," Orion muttered. He grabbed her wand arm and lowered it.

Kairi gazed curiously at the small Shadow in front of her. "Sora?" she pondered. It seemed impossible, but something in her heart was telling her it was true.

More Shadows flooded from the loft above them. Angelique drew her katana. She had to protect her friends. She had already messed up so much. A lot of this _was _her fault.

The other small Shadow wandered over. This one was Ariana. No one knew that Kairi had been awake and watching when her heart was in Sora's. She had seen how the two had helped each other and several worlds and watched out for the rest of the group.

Hazel, Orion, Donald, Goofy, and Angelique circled around Kairi and the two small Shadows. They branched out and fended of the large Shadows. A dozen more appeared around the Princess. She stood protectively in front of the small duo.

"This time, I'll protect you," Kairi said. As one, the Heartless lunged at her.

"Sora!" she cried as she turned and hugged one of the small Shadows. The other one clutched her arm.

Goofy turned. He couldn't see Kairi. He soon realized why. She was buried beneath all the Heartless. "Kairi!" He ran forward. Maybe if he hurried, he could save her.

A starburst of white light erupted from the dark mass. The Shadows fell away and dissipated. The rest fled. Hazel turned and gasped.

**[Cue Music: Iris (music box) : Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box]**

Kairi was still standing, hugging protectively. It was what she was embracing that made the group stop and stare. He had his arms wrapped around her. She could feel his warmth and his large hands on her back. But wait, could it be? She backed away a little and looked up. Instantly, she smiled, tears in her eyes. Smiling back at her was Sora. She hugged him close. She could hear his heartbeat.

She felt something on her arm shift. She glanced that way. There stood Ariana. She too was grinning widely. The brunette girl let go and turned to Hazel, Orion, and Angie. As one, they pulled her into a group hug. They all murmured things into her ears. Things of welcoming back and a reprimand from Angelique. Ariana smiled.

All of a sudden, pools of darkness appeared on the ground. More humanoid Shadows appeared. They were taller than Donald and had long, thick antennae coming from the backs of their heads. They were the Neoshadows.

The Beast leapt forward with his claws stretched out. He knocked some of them into the walls, making them dissipate. "Go!" he roared as he destroyed two more.

"But what about you?" Sora asked as he backed away from Kairi.

"I'll stay here and look for Belle!"

Ariana didn't know who he was, but she could tell he had a kind heart. Was this one of her new powers? She prayed that she wouldn't start doing weird things. Ariana nodded. "Stay safe," she told the Beast.

Sora looked away glumly. The Beast was strong, so maybe he would pull through. He ran through the entrance. It wasn't long before they reached the Gummi ship.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, this is a bit of a short chapter. Don't forget to vote if you haven't yet.**


	17. Rendezvous and Recuperation

**ATTENTION! I am in desperate need of a beta for this story and/or for my Harry Potter series. If you would be willing to do this or if you know somebody willing, please pm me.**

**Okay, now that that's over, let's get to the story!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned both of these series, Cedric and Sirius would be alive in canon. Roxas and Xion would most definitely be together. Lastly, I would not be posting this on this site.**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Rendezvous and Recuperation

It was just a few minutes after leaving Hollow Bastion. Ariana sat in the cockpit of the Gummi ship, replaying the past three days in her mind. So much had happened. So much had changed. She felt… different than she had before Neverland. Maybe it was because of the events that had progressed. Maybe it was because her body was adjusting to being in the Realm of Light again.

Donald was driving, and Goofy was manning the weapons. Angelique and Kairi stood near the windows as they stared at the passing stars. Hazel and Orion, both of which were completely exhausted, were sleeping. Sora was in the kitchen, probably eating all the food they had left. Ariana's stomach rumbled. Maybe food was a good idea.

To her surprise, Sora sat in a chair facing the large window. Ariana pulled up another chair and sat next to him. He glanced at her with sleepy blue eyes. She imagined that she looked the same way.

Neither said anything for a moment. Sora finally broke it. "So, what do you think it was?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean when our hearts were one, and… someone possessed us… Who was that?"

Ariana didn't answer as she watched a purple, pink, and orange cloud of gases pass. Just before that thing had taken over, she had felt such a sense of familiarity, something she hadn't felt in a long time. "I dunno. But whatever it was, it wasn't bad."

"Yeah."

She saw something shift out of the corner of her eye. She and Sora both turned and saw Reaver the black rabbit sitting on the table. He sat there and stared at them with his red eyes, still as a statue. The only movement he made was a small twitch of his whiskers.

"Okay, that's kinda creepy," Sora muttered.

"I don't know how Angie puts up with it."

At that very moment, Angie walked in and picked up the rabbit. She held him to her cheek. "Oh, Reaver," she cooed, "I've missed you so much! Don't you ever run from Mummy again!"

Again, only the rabbit's whiskers twitched. He didn't blink… Nothing. Angie walked back to the cockpit, still cooing.

"Still creepy," Sora said,

At this, Ariana laughed.

* * *

The Gummi ship finally landed two hours later. Donald stood from the pilot's chair, his bill pulled back in a smile. He turned to announce their arrival, but Goofy was sleeping in his chair. The duck walked into the kitchen to make himself a meal. Wait a second… Where did the chairs go?

Then Donald smiled again. Sora, Kairi, and Ariana were sitting in front of the window. The two brunettes were sleeping, and Kairi was whispering softly to someone as she pulled Sora's head into her lap. On closer inspection, it was revealed that she was talking to Jiminy Cricket. The journal was open on the windowsill in front of her.

They didn't have to leave quite yet. It could wait until after a long and satisfying sleep.

* * *

"Tell me what happened," Leon demanded. It was the next morning. Sora and Hazel had gone to the hotel to find him reading through some old reports. Ariana, Aerith, and Yuffie were probably showing Kairi and Angie around and shopping. Orion, Donald, and Goofy were trying to find some supplies and food.

"So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole…" Leon muttered to himself after the younger brunettes told him the long story. "It explains why there are more Heartless around."

"So that means that the only way to stop them-" Hazel started.

"-seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora finished.

"Maybe," Leon countered. "But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed."

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora snapped uncharacteristically. "We have to do _something_. I've got a friend back there."

The leather-clad man sighed. "That's right. You have one more friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts – just like that Keyblade you saw. Of course, without Kairi and Ariana's hearts, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' should have been freed. Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save you friend, you and Ari can."

At that moment, Donald and Goofy burst into the room. "Sora, c'mon!" they shouted.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked as her shoulders tensed. There didn't _seem_ to be any danger, but better safe than sorry.

"It's not Heartless," Donald squawked as he folded his wings impatiently. "We told Cid that we wanted to get back to Hollow Bastion, but he says we can't go back that way."

"Why can't we go back?" Sora demanded.

"Hey, he just said, 'We can't go back _that way_,'" Hazel repeated. She shook her head, exasperated.

"Cid says there's a mavi-jelli in the waterway," Goofy explained.

"Navi-Gummi, ya big palooka!" Donald countered.

"Yeah, what he said!"

"Where's Ori?" Hazel inquired. Why was her brother not there yet? Surely he would've been there before now?

Donald took his turn to explain. "He went to find the girls. He'll meet us there."

Hazel nodded. She was envious of her mother and Uncle Harry. During their early years, they had been separated. When they turned eleven, they had seen each other again for the first time in a decade. Their souls had been so overjoyed to be together again that they had bonded closely. They could hear each other's thoughts if they wanted and basically experience what the other saw and felt.

She desperately wanted that ability. Well, she wouldn't go to drastic measures for it. It just would have been really handy when she and Orion had been separated.

* * *

The group, including Aerith and Yuffie, met in the waterway half an hour later after a few difficult Heartless battles. The Keyhole in Hollow Bastion was probably the reason for all of the Darkballs and Defenders. There were even the occasional Wyvern, which were pink, dragonoid Heartless.

The waterway was dark. The only sources of light came from a few small lamps and orbs of light that Aerith had conjured. The green brick walls were moist to the touch, and patches of moss grew on the brick.

Aerith stepped through the water to a wall decorated with a mural of a yellow and orange sun. She pulled out a loose brick. It was hollow, and she emptied its contents into her hand. She turned and handed it to Ariana. It looked to her like a large, red Lego piece.

"I guess we'll have to take it to Cid's," Donald suggested. Everyone else agreed. Cid was the only one who could install Gummi pieces.

Sora made to follow, but a light voice called out his name. Kairi stood there, her hands behind her back. Sora smiled and walked to her.

"C'mon," he said. "Let's go and join the others. We should rest up."

"Okay," she agreed. She turned to the mural. It was bright compared to the rest of the waterway. "The light at the end of the tunnel…"

"Oh," Sora remembered, "your grandma's story, right?" It was the vision he had seen of Kairi and her grandmother, the latter telling a story to the former.

Kairi gazed at him in shock for a split second. "That's right, when we were together."

"You know what's funny?" he asked seriously. He stepped closer to her. "I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. Finally, we're together, Kairi." He felt fuzzy inside as he said it. It was a rather nice feeling… "Now, it's time to get Riku back."

The redhead sighed. "You think it'll ever be the same again between us? Riku's lost his…"

Sora deflated. The fuzzy feeling was gone. "When Ari and I turned into Heartless, you save us, remember? I was lost in the darkness, and Ari was there with me. "I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things – my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed the both of us. But then I heard a voice – your voice. You brought us back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't. And somehow, Ari followed you back."

"That's it!" Sora exclaimed. "Our hearts are connected, all of ours. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I _saw_ that light. I could feel someone next to me. It was Ari. I kinda… grabbed hold of her and brought her with me. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale.

Kairi smiled. Sora was so sappy at times, but it was times like those that brought a smile to her face. "Well, let's go get Riku."

"You can't go!" the brunette said hurriedly.

"Why not?" Kairi protested. She crossed her arms.

"Uh… Because it's way too dangerous."

"Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."

But the spiky-haired boy was adamant. "Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"

The tension was so thick; he could have cut it with his Keyblade. "I can't help?" Kairi finally asked.

The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "You'd kind of be in my way."

Kairi giggled. "Okay." Even though it hurt it did make sense. She had no idea how to fight or use magic. The only experience she'd had with sword fighting had been with a wooden sword against one of her friends that fought with a rod. "You win." She didn't want anyone else hurt because of her. She took his hand and pulled something from her skirt pocket. She pressed it into his gloved hand.

It was a five-pointed star made from pink thalassa shells. "Take this," she instructed. "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."

Sora closed his hand over it. "Don't worry. I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

As a hunch, Sora summoned _Three_ _Wishes._ He detached the Keychain and replaced it with the charm. It transformed in a bright flash of white. What took its place was a white Keyblade. The guard was made up of a pair of angel wings. The shaft was made of two delicate bars. One of them curled and ended in a heart. The other branched out to form the teeth and made the kanji for "light": hikari. The name _Oathkeeper_ echoed through his mind.

Kairi smiled at the Keyblade. "What's its name?"

"_Oathkeeper_."

She stepped even closer to him and embraced him. Sora dismissed _Oathkeeper_. He hugged her back.

* * *

In the dead of night, Ariana was walking cautiously to the Gummi ship. She felt as if her pockets were bulging with potions and ethers, even though Merlin had put an Undetectable Extension Charm on her pockets. Her thoughts turned to her conversation with her siblings and Angelique. They'd wanted to go with her.

"_You aren't experienced as Sora and I," she argued. "I don't want to have to worry about you."_

"_Yet you're going to go out there fighting," Orion shot back, shocking his sisters and Angie, "while we sit here twiddling our thumbs?"_

"_I don't think so!" Hazel agreed._

_Angie just turned away, her head hung._

_But still, they refused to stay. They were going with her the next morning. Whether she liked it or not._

This was exactly why she was going to the Gummi ship in the dead of night. Well, her watch told her night. The sky in Traverse Town never changed. Sora, Donald, and Goofy would be meeting her at the exit to the First District pretty soon. She wouldn't be able to stand it if they got hurt when she herself knew she would never return.

It was that last thought that kept her awake later on. She lay there in her bed on the Gummi ship, tossing and turning. After an hour of this, she finally resigned to the fact that she was not going to sleep yet. She pushed back her covers and climbed out of bed and wandered to the cockpit. To her surprise, Sora sat in one of chairs, watching as the stars passed.

The boy turned at the sound of her footsteps. "You can't sleep?" he asked. When Ariana shook her head, he continued, "Yeah. I can't sleep either."

She sat down next to him. There was silence for a few moments before she her Keyblade appeared in her grasp. She stared at it. So much had changed in the past two or three weeks. There really wasn't any way of telling how many days had passed. Her watch didn't tell her anything about days. Less than a month ago, she'd been so carefree. It really was no wonder why she couldn't sleep: The weight of the worlds rested on Ariana and Sora's shoulders.

Sora glanced at the Keyblade in his friend's hand. It had changed again. The guard was white-silver and in the shape of an outline of a moon. The handle was slim and the same color. The shaft was navy blue with a silver ripple pattern. The teeth consisted of two silver crescent moons, the smaller and darker one inside the larger and lighter one. Sora leaned over and touched the vaguely familiar crescent moon Keychain. _Moonlit Shadow_ reverberated in his mind.

Then something clicked. "Wait, isn't that your mother's necklace."

Ariana nodded. "Earlier, Aerith suggested using it as a Keychain. Obviously, it worked. It reminds me of Mum and Dad. Their favorite time was always the night. Mum loves gazing at the stars and pointing out constellations."

Sora nodded and summoned _Oathkeeper_. Ariana stared at it for a second. "This Keyblade was made out of Kairi's good luck charm that she gave me," he explained. "When I hold it, it feels like she's with me. On this journey, she's been my light, even when I didn't know it."

The brunette girl smiled. Kairi was a wonderful friend to have, and Ariana knew that Kairi and Sora would one day get together. If it wasn't Sora's sacrifice that gave it away, then it was they way the two talked about each other.

It was there, next to Sora, that Ariana felt at peace. Maybe it was because of his carefree personality. Or it could have been because they shared the same burdens. Whatever the reason, the two finally fell asleep together.

From the doorway, a figure snickered quietly…

* * *

**A/N: And it's finished! You know, as I was typing this note up, the Skyward Sword theme started playing on my computer. It makes me feel so victorious!**

**As for the poll, the tie broke! I was actually getting worried about it…**

**Thank you for all of the reviews and reads!**


	18. The Man in the Black Cloak

**Alrighty, I know that this is ridiculously late. My only excuse is that I've been extremely busy. Lame, I know. But in return, I have a nice, long chapter for you!**

**I am still in need of a beta for this series and/or my Harry Potter series. If you know anybody willing to or if you want to do it, please PM me.**

**If I owned Harry Potter and Kingdom Hearts, would you really be reading this?**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: The Man in the Cloak

"Boo!"

Ariana's eyes snapped open. Next to her, she felt something fall. She sat up. She heard insane laughter from the doorway. She turned. Angelique stood there, holding her sides, her pale blue eyes glowing with laughter.

"Oh, Merlin!" she giggled. "You should see your faces!"

Sora stood from where he'd fallen. "Angie, what're you doing here?"

"What do you think? I didn't want you two saps failing!"

"When did you get on the ship?" Ariana asked.

Angie stared out the front window. "It all happened last night…" Wait, was that flute music? Angie almost seemed to… wiggle?

"Is she having a flashback?" Sora asked.

"I think so."

"Does she know we can't see it?"

"Er – probably not."

There was silence for a moment, asides from the flute music. "So, what do we do? I don't know what to do for this kind of thing?"

Ariana shrugged.

The music stopped, and Angie blinked. Her form turned solid.

Sora stared for a second. "Is she back?" Nothing else happened. "She's back."

"So that's how it happened," Angie said.

The brunettes blinked. "Angie," Ari started, "I love you so much like a sister, but we cannot, for the love of Merlin, see your flashbacks."

"Oh. Okay, so what happened is that I overheard you guys talking about sneaking out in the middle of the night, so I snuck on before you did."

"Then what was that flashback thing about?" Sora asked.

Angelique sighed. "Conrad cursed me earlier this summer since I kept trying to show people my memories in a pensieve instead of telling them."

Ariana nodded. Conrad was Angie's older brother of three years. He was also a Slytherin. "Okay. Conrad cursed you so that when you have a flashback, you wiggle and there's weird flute music."

"Yup."

* * *

A few hours later, they finally made it to Hollow Bastion. Sora, Ariana, Donald, Goofy, and Angie stood in the teleport room. Chip and Dale were just outside, hopping on the buttons.

"Are you ready?" Chip asked. The quintet nodded. Their eyes held no laughter.

"Good luck!" Dale waved.

"See you soon!" they chorused.

The teleport flashed, depositing them on the hostile world.

In a flash of light, the group appeared in front of the doors to the castle, quite a ways from the Keyhole. Angie turned to Donald.

"Hey, why are we outside?"

"We took a different way to get here," Goofy answered.

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "The teleportation won't let us go anywhere else because of that."

"Oh," the three teens chorused.

Ariana gazed at the sky. Before, it had been rosy pink. Now, it was slowly turning black. Storm clouds were forming over the castle. Purple lightning lit up the sky. She shivered a little. It was definitely colder. She untied her hoodie from around her waist and pulled it over her head.

The darkness was spreading.

Ariana turned at the sound of heavy footfalls. The Beast was approaching from the Rising Falls. He seemed dejected.

"Where's Belle?" Sora asked.

"Still in the castle," the Beast answered.

"Against her will?" Goofy pondered.

"No. I think she stayed for a reason. The other Princesses are inside as well."

"Why's that?" Angie asked.

Ariana could guess what that reason was. The darkness was spreading rapidly. They must have stayed because of that.

"Let's go ask them," Sora suggested.

"You may need my strength," the Beast said. "I'll go with you." He pushed open the doors, and the others followed.

Immediately, ten Darkballs and six Defenders appeared. It really wasn't any wonder that the Beast hadn't found Belle. There were too many Heartless prowling around.

Ariana summoned _Moonlit Shadow_ in her left-handed reverse grip. She dashed behind the shield of a Defender and stunned it with **Stupefy** before freezing it with **Glacius**. She struck it with the teeth of the Keyblade repeatedly before it disappeared, a heart rising to the sky.

She turned and saw Angie slashing at a Darkball with her katana. Creeping up behind her, with its arm held high, was a Defender. Angie wasn't paying attention. Ari ran forward and hurled her Keyblade, knocking it aside. She slowed down and concentrated on the magic Merlin and Donald had taught her. Adrenaline rushed through her, and she pushed it out through her fingers. "_Thunder_!" she cried. Lightning arced through the air and jolted the Defender. It vanished, heart rising.

Sora looked away from them. He set his sights on a trio of Darkballs that floated eerily towards him. He steadied _Oathkeeper_. He felt warmth wash through him as he held it. He could practically feel Kairi guiding his Keyblade as he vanquished the Heartless.

Soon, the Heartless were vanquished. The Beast led the way up the stairs and to the left, leading them to the library. He tiredly walked up the stairs and to the second level. Had he been fighting ever since the rest of the group had left?

The Beast reached the top, the group close behind. He gasped at the sight of a young, brunette woman wearing a yellow ball gown, her hair pulled into an elegant bun.

"Belle!" the Beast exclaimed happily. The two walked towards each other and embraced warmly. Ariana smiled. They were a very cute, but odd, couple. After they shared their moment, they broke apart. Belle turned to the rest of the group.

"You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" After a collective nod, she continued. "Please be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside. The other Princesses and I have been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer."

Ariana felt guilt rise up within her. While she had been relaxing, the Princesses of Heart had been holding back the darkness. She wasn't quite sure what duties she had as a Princess of Magic. But she was sure lazing about wasn't one of them.

"We'll take care of it," Sora assured the Princess.

"Er-" Ariana stammered, "do you need someone to take you to the other Princesses?" Maybe she could redeem herself!

"That's alright, Ariana," Belle said. "Besides, I need a few words with my _prince charming_."

The Beast shifted uncomfortably.

* * *

Soon enough, the now quintet reached the castle chapel. Angelique involuntarily shuddered. This was where she had battled Riku and lost. The other five Princesses were there. One was blonde with her hair in a bun and a pale blue ball gown. Another had long, golden hair and a darker blue casual dress. Those two stepped forward.

"Keyblade Master, Princess of Magic," the blond greeted. "My name's Cinderella, and this is Aurora."

"We've been waiting for you," Aurora said.

Ariana looked at her feet. She felt so guilty. Why had she ever left?

"Don't blame yourself, Ari," a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Jasmine standing there. The Arabian princess was smiling, even though there was worry in her dark eyes. "There was nothing you could've done anyways. You don't have as much command over the light as we do. It might not have ended well for you."

The brunette smiled. "I hope you don't feel bad about what happened in the Cave of Wonders."

"None of that was your fault. What happened happened."

She sighed. Ariana felt as if a world's weight was lifted off her shoulders. One down, the rest of the universe to go.

"Ari!" Donald shouted from the portal. "Time to go!"

"Good luck," Jasmine said.

Ariana nodded and walked towards the heart-shaped portal. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Angie waited there. Ari could see their breath frosting in the air. They didn't have much time left. The Heartless were going to consume the Keyhole soon.

As one, they walked through the portal. Ariana glanced at her surroundings. There was no specific ground or walls, but she knew she was walking on something. The world was a swirling mass of dark colors: reds, blues, greens, and purples. In the middle stood a four-legged Heartless that seemed ten feet tall. It was lilac with a violet back and legs. White tusks sprouted from the lower jaw. A single, black horn came from its forehead. It was blacker than night. The Behemoth's yellow eyes seemed to be in a permanent scowl.

Donald and Goofy started violently. "Wak!" Donald squawked nervously. He summoned his staff.

"Look at the size of that feller!" Goofy shouted. His shield appeared in his hand.

"We need to hurry," Angie said as she drew her katana. Her voice didn't waver, but her face was much paler than normal.

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "We need to find Riku and beat Ansem."

"And lock the Keyhole," Ari finished.

The Behemoth roared and stomped towards them. The ground shook. Pillars of dark purple erupted everywhere. The quintet barely managed to dodge them. Just then, the Behemoth lowered its horn a little.

"Hey, Ari!" Angie shouted. Darkness gathered at the tip of the horn. "Look!" She pointed.

Ariana looked at the horn. There was a dark blue under the horn. Cut off the horn, and the Behemoth could lose some power. The girl nodded.

The beam of darkness fired, headed straight for Sora, who rolled out of the way. The beam exploded, and Sora was blown off his feet. He landed next to the Behemoth.

It crouched down and bore its horn again. Sora jumped onto its hind leg and onto its back. Angie took notice and did the same. Both raised their weapons and struck at the horn. The Behemoth shuddered and shook violently. Both of them fell and collided with Donald. The duck grumbled

"There's gotta be a better way to do this!" he squawked.

"Sora, what about them Strike Raids?" Goofy shouted as he blocked a beam of darkness.

"Okay!" Sora ran around to the back of the Behemoth. He hefted his Keyblade as it glowed. He threw it like a boomerang at the Heartless. He missed the spot. He tried and missed again. When it returned to his hand again, Ariana came up from behind him.

"Try again, Sora!" she cried. "**Stupefy**!" The red light left _Moonlit Shadow_ and hit the weak spot. Incendio and Glacius followed it.

The weak spot froze over. It looked like one good smack would get rid of it. Donald climbed on the Behemoth's back. "_Thundaga_!" he shouted. An enormous bolt of lightning fell from the sky and shattered the ice and cracked the horn. Sora climbed behind it and threw another Strike Raid. This one hit its mark and shattered the horn.

The Behemoth roared and fell to the ground. Donald jumped off. The Heartless disappeared, and enormous, crystalline heart rising to the sky. The ground below them started to quake. The colors around them faded.

"Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole!" Goofy said.

Suddenly, a voice echoed out around them. "Sora, Ari, you did it."

"I think that's Leon!" Angie exclaimed. She dashed to the portal. Ari and the others followed behind. Ariana shook her head at her friend's antics.

In the Chapel, Leon and Aerith stood facing the quintet. On the railing sat Yuffie. She was facing away from them. Hazel and Orion stood to the side. Ariana waved nervously.

"What are you doing here?" Sora asked.

"We came in Cid's ship," Yuffie answered.

"We were following a girl that gave us the slip and left us behind," Hazel continued acidly. Orion glared at his little sister. Ariana chewed her lip and looked away. She felt so guilty, but she knew that that was the right choice.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith said. "We wanted to see it again." Her green eyes held so much sorrow.

Leon sighed. "It's in worse shape than I feared." Pain was etched on his face. "It used to be so peaceful…"

"It will be!" Angie said.

Aerith nodded. "Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including you island and your families.

"Really?" Sora and Ari exclaimed. Hazel and Orion's previous scowls vanished. Angie whooped in excitement.

Yuffie bowed her head. "But it also means good-bye."

"What?" Ariana whispered. But, why?

"Once the worlds are restored," Aerith answered, "they'll all be separate again.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie added.

Sora gazed at each of them in turn. He had this nagging feeling in the back of his head, but he ignored it. "Then I'll just visit you guys with the Gummi ship."

"I don't think it works that way," Hazel sighed.

Yuffie nodded. She finally turned to face the rest of the group. "Before all of this, you didn't know about the other worlds, right?"

"Because every world was isolated," Aerith added. "Impassable walls divided them."

"The Heartless destroyed those walls. But if the worlds return, so will the walls."

"So Gummi ships won't work," Orion concluded.

"So you're saying we'll never…?" Sora trailed off.

"We may never meet again," Leon said at last, "but we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are," Aerith continued, "our hearts will bring us together again."

Yuffie jumped off the railing and put an arm around Ariana. "Besides, I couldn't forget any of you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

"Sora, Ari!" Donald called from the portal.

"Hurry!" Goofy added. "Come and close the Keyhole!"

[Cue music: Friends in My Heart, Kingdom Hearts]

Sora and Ariana approached the portal. The two gazed at each other. "This is it," Ariana whispered. "The final Keyhole." Many emotions coursed through her. She was happy that it would all be over soon. She had loved seeing the worlds and bonding with her friends. But this had been the adventure of a lifetime. She didn't know if she could handle more. Then there was sorrow. She would never see most of her wonderful friends again. But Leon was right.

"Yeah," Sora said. He didn't know if he would be ready to end the journey. There was no telling if they would find Riku, or even if they could free him. _There's no way to tell unless we try_, he thought.

_Oathkeeper_ and _Moonlit Shadow_ appeared in their hands. They pointed them at the portal. They Keyhole appeared. Blue and purple erupted from their Keyblades and entered the hole. They could hear two heavy locks click.

Ariana felt the change in the air immediately. It was warmer. So warm in fact that she pulled off her hoodie and tied it around her waist again. The room seemed ever so slightly brighter. The shadows seemed to shrink. Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith's faces seemed to ease.

[End Music]

But then it happened.

There was a morbid air. Ari gasped. It didn't feel… normal. It was powerful. It was definitely hostile.

She heard hurried footsteps coming up the stairs. The Princesses were coming. "Sora, Ari!" Alice cried. Her face was pale, and there was panic in there was panic in her blue eyes.

"There's something terrible here!" Cinderella said.

"Is it Ansem?" Goofy asked.

"We'll put him right!" Donald assured.

The Princesses shook their heads. "This… thing doesn't feel like Darkness or Light," Snow White said.

"It's something else," Aurora muttered.

"Don't worry," Sora said. "We'll take care of it."

"Be careful," said Jasmine.

Ariana followed that powerful and dangerous feeling. It wasn't that hard. It was like walking through soup trying to get there. She was dimly aware of Sora, Donald, and Goofy following. The trail led them to the portal that Maleficent had set up. Ariana took a deep breath before stepping through as the others followed.

Her heart pounded as she observed the room. There was a noise behind her. Sora stood there. A shadow seemed to phase through him. He stumbled before the shadow passed through her, too.

Memories, images, flashed through her mind, but they all came from her journey. Finally, they stopped. She stumbled and fell to the ground. She looked over her shoulder.

The shadow wasn't a shadow. It fully materialized. It was a man. She couldn't tell what he looked like, as he wore a black cloak with the hood drawn. He had black boots and gloves. She couldn't help but feel as if he were familiar.

Sora stood first. "Who're you?"

The man didn't turn but spoke in a smooth, deep voice. "Ah, it seems you both are special, too." The voice seemed familiar.

Goofy must've thought that, too. "Ansem…?"

The man finally turned. She couldn't see his face. It was shrouded in shadows. The silver tassels on his cloak clinked. "That name rings familiar." His right hand crackled with dark blue electricity. No one took notice. "You remind me of him," he directed at Sora. "And you remind me of her," he said to Ariana.

"Huh?" she asked, utterly confused. This man wasn't making any sense!

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked. He was clearly annoyed. He glanced away, and that's when he saw it: the blue lightning. He gasped. The main raised his hand. The lightning arced towards Ari. Sora summoned _Oathkeeper_, pushed Ari out of the way, and blocked it, but the man kept at it. Sora grunted with the effort and pushed it into the ceiling. Rubble fell, but no one noticed.

"It means," the man continued, "you are not whole. You are incomplete…" He started to creep ever closer. Ari involuntarily stepped back. "Allow me to test your strength."

The man immediately charged Sora, who brought forth his Keyblade, only to be stopped by a bright orange blade made of light. The man didn't stop there, he spun. Another blade appeared and caught Sora's back.

Ari jumped over the boy, about to strike, but the man brought up a blue, checkered shield. Ariana fell against it, and it stung her arm.

Goofy stepped in and threw his shield like a Frisbee and caught the figure's arm. Sora took his chance and hit him once, twice, three times before the man called up another shield.

They were barely two minutes in, and Ariana could tell that this would be a difficult battle. She stepped back and pointed her Keyblade at the man. Sora glanced her way and wisely stepped back. "**Stupefy**!" the witch screamed. Their opponent's figure turned hazy and flew towards her. He became solid and swung his blades at her. She blocked one, but the other scratched her side. It burned, but she bit it back.

Sora hefted _Oathkeeper_. "**Flipendo**!" he cried. The light blue spell managed to hit the man in the small of his back. Donald raised his staff and blasted _Firaga_ and _Blizzaga_. Ariana helped by throwing a _Thundara_.

The figure warped to the other side of the room before vanishing. In his place were five, blue orbs of light. Each of them shot lasers at the quartet. Ariana dodged under one of them only to be caught on her chest by another. She backed up and jumped over it. Yet another stung her arm.

Goofy couldn't dodge out of the lasers' way. They all hit him and threw him against the wall. His shield vanished as he fainted. Donald sighed in relief when the lasers disappeared, revealing the man again. He raised his staff and cast _Curaga_, the strongest healing spell he knew. He smiled as he watched Sora and Ari relax a little. The unconscious Goofy stirred and opened his eyes.

The figure warped towards him, his orange blades bared. Donald jumped back and hurled a blast of fire at him. The man dodged and swung the blades into him. Donald flew through the air and into the wall. As his world faded, he hoped Sora and Ari would win.

Sora panted heavily as he dodged around the man's blades. Donald's healing spell had helped to heal the shallow wounds and numb the pain of the deeper ones. It had done nothing about his exhaustion. Ariana had managed to hit the man with **Incendio**, but she was blocking again. Sora ran up behind him and hit him.

The man turned and thrust out his hand. Lightning arced through the air. It hit him. White-hot pain hit his every nerve. He couldn't move. He couldn't even cry out. He jolted around involuntarily.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it ended. He landed on his knees and panted. After a few seconds, he looked up to see the man hunched over and Ariana standing near him. Her green eyes were filled with rage, which stunned him. He had never seen her like this. She struck the man once, twice, thrice before he struck her with lightning. She screamed.

Sora pushed aside his pain and exhaustion. This man had to be stopped. He pulled together all of his strength. He pointed _Oathkeeper_ at the man. "**Stupefy**!" he shouted.

The spell hit its mark. Ariana fell. She caught herself and stood. She poured all of her focus into her family, her joy of finding Hazel, Orion, and Angelique, the happiness of Sora returning. She hefted _Moonlit Shadow_ and pointed it at the vile man.

"**EXPECTO PATRONUM**!" she screamed. A silver wolf bounded from the tip and tackled the man. He may not have been pure darkness, but the Patronus could still affect him.

The figure's body sparked. He clutched his chest in pain. "… Impressive," he chuckled.

"What?" Ariana panted. Why was he chuckling?

"This will be enjoyable."

Sora ran after him, Keyblade ready. "What're you talking about?" He jumped in the air, intending to finish the man off. The figure turned intangible. Sora fell through him.

"It is beyond your comprehension, for now. Until we meet again."

"Wait, what're you-?" But the man vanished.

"I am but a mere shell." His voice echoed around the room.

The portal finally reappeared. The exhausted quartet stumbled out. Sora and Ariana were ambushed by Hazel and Orion, both of whom handed them several potions and magically mended their singed and torn clothes. Ariana let them fuss over her. She was too exhausted to do anything else. After the twins finished, they moved on to Donald and Goofy, both of which were slumped against the wall.

Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora, Alice, and Cinderella came up to them, sympathy in their eyes. Ariana looked up at them.

"Thank you, Sora, Ariana," Alice said. "I think the Darkness has begun to weaken."

Jasmine shuddered. "But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away."

"It's the heart of the Darkness," Aurora explained. "It must be where Ansem went."

So, Ansem was "far away". It would probably be a short trip on the Gummi ship. Sora sure hoped so. Then again, maybe not. This journey was going to end soon, one way or the other, whether they beat Ansem or lost. "Then we'll take the Gummi ship and deal with both Ansem and the Heartless."

"And I'll be there to help," Ariana said. "Besides, this guy here _needs_ looking after."

"Hey!"

Cinderella laughed. "A worthy answer, Keyblade master and Princess of Magic."

"Sora," Snow White said, "your courage can bring back our world. Ariana, your kindness can banish the Darkness."

"Once the Darkness is gone," Aurora explained, "all should return to its original state."

"Kairi will be back on the island?" Sora asked.

"And Hazel, Orion, and Angelique should be home?" Ari questioned.

"Most certainly," Cinderella affirmed. Sora and Ariana smiled and relaxed a bit. Not much, but a bit. "And you should be home, too."

The Keybladers shook their heads. They came to the same conclusion. "We can't go home yet," Sora said.

"Not until we find Riku and the King," Ariana elaborated.

"So we're just going to twiddle our thumbs until you get home?" Hazel asked. She still didn't like that her sister was going alone. But this was a new development.

Ari looked away. She didn't want it to sound like that. Ori surprised her, though. "Haze, just let her go. She can do this."

Hazel's gray eyes jumped from her twin, her sister, to her friend. She finally sighed. "Fine." She turned to Sora. For the first time ever, he saw unshed tears in her eyes. "Take good care of her. Ari, keep and eye on him, and Donald, and Goofy."

Hazel glanced at their anthropomorphic friends. They were chatting away with Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Angie. They looked older, more serious. They were prepared for what lay ahead. She pulled out a box from her pocket and handed it to Ari. "Here. This should help quite a bit."

Ariana opened it and gasped. Sora leaned over her shoulder. Inside the magically expanded box were at least twenty potions, fifteen hi-potions, and fifteen ethers, blue orbs that could restore energy and magic. "Sweet Merlin," Ari whispered.

"Ori and I collected munny from the Heartless. Aerith and Yuffie chipped in a book of magic."

Ariana drew her siblings into a giant hug. Then she did the same to Angie, Aerith, and Yuffie. Leon, by strange chance, managed to keep away. She pulled Donald and Goofy into an embrace. Even Sora joined. Fear of the unknown coursed through them, but overpowering it was love, hope and faith. They knew, as long as they believed in each other, their friends, and themselves, then maybe, just maybe, they could defeat Ansem and stop the Darkness.

* * *

**A/N: I know that many of you are feeling that Ariana's getting too powerful. First, she becomes a Keyblade master, and then she discovers that she's a Princess of Magic. Now that she knows she's a princess, she's noticed things easier, and she's been growing ever since her adventure started. Sora grew more powerful as well. It's kind of expected.**

**(9/28/13) I have updated the Unknown's side of the conversation so that it matches Kingdom Hearts 1.5's English version.**

**Now, those of you who are skilled in at drawing, if you have any covers for this story, you are welcome to send them to me.**

**God Bless!**


	19. The End of the World

**Okay, I have gone back and edited some of the chapters and added music to some of them. The most major ones are the first and second chapters.**

**Oh, and I could still use a beta!**

**Unfortunately, I am do not own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts. If I did, would you really see this here?**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: The End of the World

"A-hyuck!" Goofy laughed. "And then Maxie said, 'I didn't know that Frisbee was a shield!' But he didn't stop throwing it since!"

Sora and Ari held their sides as they laughed. Sora even fell of his chair. Ariana laughed even more. Soon, neither could breathe. Donald, who was piloting the Gummi ship, even let out a few chuckles, but it was obvious that he'd heard the story before.

Ari wondered why they were swapping stories and laughing why they were. Maybe it was because of the uncertainty that lay ahead. _Holding on to the good times helps,_ she decided.

"Ooh," she said, "there was this old toad that took over Hogwarts one year. Her name was Umbridge, and you won't _believe_ what Mum, Uncle Fred, and Uncle George did when Umbridge outlawed boys and girls being closer than three feet to each other…"

All the while, Jiminy Cricket sat on the console of the ship. He had his journal out and was recording their every word. It always helped to have this kind of information.

They continued like this until, one by one, they dropped into a peaceful sleep. Of course, Donald remembered to put the ship on autopilot.

* * *

_She stood on blue stone. It seemed very rough. There were other outcroppings of rock, all of which looked the same. There were no sound, asides from the roaring of the water. She looked at it. It was going _up_. She knew enough that it wasn't normal. So, were these rising falls? She decided to ignore those and look up instead. The sky was a rosy pink with a few orange and purple clouds drifting across._

_This place was very familiar, and yet, not._

_She smoothed her black jeans. Her black converse boots came up to below her knees. Under her blue vest, she had on a short-sleeved green shirt with a V-neck. Her sliver bracelets **klinked** on her right wrist. Something fell into her green eyes._

_Her left hand closed on it. She examined it. _Hair._ The name had sprung into her mind. It was yellow mixed with brown. _Dirty blonde.

_There was a strange noise behind her. She turned and saw a figure in a black cloak standing before a mass of navy and purple. The mass vanished._

"_You seek answers," he said. He had a very deep voice. He waved his hand. Three glittering letters appeared before her. "I can give you purpose." With another wave of his hand, the letters changed. For the first time, she spoke what she read._

* * *

Ari snapped her eyes open. That was _the_ strangest dream she'd ever had, even including the dream she'd had before her world's destruction. _That_ dream had been her choices and maybe how she'd received her Keyblade. She hadn't been able to summon it until afterwards.

But this new dream… She had been seeing through that girl's eyes. That rosy pink sky most likely meant that the girl was in Hollow Bastion. How many other worlds had rosy pink skies during the day? Well, maybe plenty of others, but that was beside the point.

But who was that girl? And why was she seeing through her eyes? The part at the end, though, scared her even more. The man that had spoken to her was the same man that they fought in Hollow Bastion.

Now she was relatively sure that defeating Ansem and getting Riku back was not going to be the end. She had a sense of foreboding that just wouldn't go away.

Ariana yawned widely. She was still so exhausted. What time was it? She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 1:30 A.M.! She shifted in her seat and fell back asleep.

* * *

It was 10:30 before anyone stirred, that someone being Jiminy Cricket. Donald woke up only a few minutes later to find the chronicler hard at work.

"Hey, Jiminy," Donald said. "Watcha doin'?"

The cricket looked up from his work. "I'm catching up on what's been going on. I got to the part where we met that mysterious man."

Donald heard a beeping coming from one of the monitors. He leaned over to check it. They were in orbit around a new world. When he glanced out the window, he squawked in wonder. The world seemed to be a swirling purple mass.

One hour and a large breakfast later, the quartet stood in a large cave. The walls were purple, and there seemed to be only one exit. Sora led the way out.

Ariana gazed in awe. Asides from a few purple stones sticking out, the entire expanse was made out of water. In the distance was a bright, white sphere. That was obviously the center, and where they would find Ansem.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, "is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?"

"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora asked. Ariana knew he was thinking not only about his world, but hers and every other lost world as well. Sora was so selfless.

"You betcha!" Donald confirmed.

Ariana narrowed her eyes in thought. "We know what happens if – when – we beat Ansem. The lost worlds will be restored. But what'll happen here, to us?"

"Well, uh…" Donald trailed off.

"This is a Heartless world," Goofy concluded, "so maybe it'll just disappear."

Ariana's heart jumped. "What?" Sora and Donald gasped.

"But no worries!" Goofy continued. He was smiling widely. "Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again." He nodded. "Yup, I just know that we will."

Ariana had always like Goofy. In most of their worst times, the anthropomorphic dog was always there to cheer them up again.

"Yeah, you're right," Sora agreed. In his palm, he held Kairi's charm. _I'll return this, I promise._

Ariana stepped cautiously onto the water. It was so still. No breeze stirred it. There were no other living things around it. It was without great surprise that she could walk easily on it. This world was simply impossible.

"So, why does this world exist?" Donald asked.

They walked in silence until Ariana decided to take her best crack at it. "This is a Heartless world, yeah? Maybe, whenever Heartless destroy a world, they bring back a part of that world."

"So," Goofy said, "what you're saying is that all of this is bits and pieces of different worlds?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder which world this piece came from," Sora pondered.

Ariana had no idea.

"Very good, Princess," a deep voice echoed. Ansem! The quartet searched the expanse for any sign of the man. But he was nowhere to be seen. "It's time for you to realize you destiny. Unleash your Darkness!"

"Never!" Ari shouted at the sky. The only way she was going near that creep was if she was going to free Riku.

"Who said you have a choice?"

She tensed, ready to draw her Keyblade.

"Ari!" Sora shouted. He was pointing at the sky.

She only had time to look up and see an orb of darkness falling towards her before her whole world turned black.

"Ari!" Goofy cried.

Sora could only stare as that orb of darkness disappeared, leaving Neoshadows and Darkballs in its wake. They defeated the Heartless, but the sheer mass of them made the battle difficult. When the last Darkball was vanquished, everything returned to normal.

But Ari was still missing.

Sora sighed after calling her name again. There wasn't any use. Ansem had obviously kidnapped her. But why? What did Ansem need her for?

His thoughts were interrupted as they finally reached the end. Another orb of darkness fell, this time hitting the trio. The next time Sora opened his eyes, he gaped.

* * *

Ariana blinked as she awoke. She seemed to be floating. She could move, but she couldn't touch the ground. She decided to look around.

The sky around her was completely black. There was no light. The ground was tan and seemed to stretch out into darkness. Ariana turned and discovered why she could see. There was a set of glowing white doors behind her. They were about three meters high. They were very beautiful, but she could feel something terrible behind them.

_Those doors should never open!_

There was small gasp. Ari turned. There, right behind her, gloating in a purple sphere, was _Kairi_!

* * *

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were standing in what seemed to be a crystal canyon. It reminded Sora of Atlantica with all of those undersea valleys.

"I wonder where that Ansem feller took Ari?" Goofy asked.

"Dive into the most dangerous place, and we'll find her," Donald replied. Sora nodded. Ari almost always was in the thick of danger.

"We have to hurry," Sora said.

There was no other way but down. The entire valley was littered with platforms, crevices, and cliffs, almost like some kind of wonky staircase. Strangely, no Heartless appeared the entire way down. Sora was wary, though. He had his hand ready to summon _Oathkeeper_ at a second's notice.

"Who're you?"

Sora turned, Keyblade in hand to see a boy with a sliver of wood in his right hand. He wore a gray jacket with a blue tee shirt and jeans. His sneakers were blue. He had black hair and hazel eyes.

"Uh, sorry," Sora said as _Oathkeeper_ vanished. "I'm Sora. This is Donald and Goofy. What's your name?"

"I'm Albus Potter, but you can call me Al." His accent was just like Ari's.

* * *

"Kairi, what are you doing here?" Ariana asked.

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know. The last thing I remember was walking with Aerith and Yuffie, and then the Heartless came… and that's it. What about you?"

Ariana put a hand to her chin. "I think we're still in the same world I was on before. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I were making our way to Ansem, and then an orb of darkness fell and hit me. Then I woke up here."

"What does Ansem want with us?"

"What indeed, Princess?" Ansem's voice echoed. He stepped from the shadows. "The reason why I brought you here is the way Kingdom Hearts must be opened. It needs the touches of a Princess of Heart, Princess of Magic, and Keyblade Master. We're waiting for the last one now."

"Sora," Kairi whispered in realization.

Ansem smirked.

"Give Riku back!" Ari shouted. She was sorely tempted to summon her Keyblade, but she knew it wouldn't change anything about Ansem.

"He is too far gone, past the point of no return."

"No!" Kairi gasped. She bowed her head. Ariana could see a tear falling.

Ariana herself felt her eyes burn. Hot, fat tears rolled her cheeks. No. It wasn't possible. Riku _couldn't_ be gone! She knew that he was the most stubborn person alive! Even though she didn't know him as well as Sora and Kairi, the thought of Riku being gone was inconceivable!

"Darkness will embrace you both, but for now, I must check on our final pawn." And with that, Ansem vanished again.

Ariana summoned _Moonlit Shadow_. She had to get out and warn Sora. She pointed the Keyblade at the ground. "**Finite**!" she shouted. The orb around her vanished, and she fell to the ground. She couldn't believe that worked! She did the same to Kairi's prison.

"Now what?" Kairi asked.

"Now, we have to leave."

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Albus concluded. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had spent the last twenty minutes filling him in on the goings on. "Only you, my cousin, and your king-" he pointed at Donald and Goofy "-wield this thing called a Keyblade, which is the only thing that can get rid of this Heartless man who also possessed your best friend." That time, he pointed at Sora. "Anna's gone missing, so now you're trying to find her and get rid of the Heartless man."

"Yeah, I guess that's right," Donald said. "And you call Ari Anna?"

"Yeah. It gets on her nerves, which is why I do it."

Sora ignored that last sentence. C'mon, we have to beat Ansem!" He led the other three the rest of the way to the bottom, where there was a hole in the rocky ground. White light emanated from it. This seemed to be the only way out. They jumped into it.

The next time Sora opened his eyes, he was standing in what appeared to be a floating cavern. There were the roof and floor, but the walls seemed like stone teeth. Between each "tooth" was black space.

"You know," Al said, "you make it sound like you've been fighting the Heartless for a while."

"Me, Donald, and Goofy have been together for about four weeks. Ari's been with us for about three. How long have you been here?"

"A few hours."

"Huh?"

"What other worlds have you been to?" Donald asked.

"But I've only been here…" Albus trailed off. He flicked his hazel eyes from Sora to Donald. Then his eyes widened. "But I've been here only for a few hours, and Ari's been out there for a few weeks."

"How's that possible?" Sora asked.

"Maybe each world is on a different time," Goofy suggested.

Donald opened his beak to reprimand him before closing it. "Actually, that's pretty good."

Al shrugged. "Sounds possible."

In the center of the cave was a purple pillar of light. This seemed to be the only way out. The inky blackness proved no help. Sora stepped up to the light and touched it.

Suddenly, he was in Traverse Town.

* * *

Kairi and Ariana had no choice but to walk in the opposite direction of the doors. It seemed to make sense. What didn't make sense was that they were pushing past trees and bushes. They rolled a log out of the way, and it dropped. They were standing on a cliff.

The area before them reminded her of a crater. The edges were in a perfect spiral, like a ramp, leading down to the center where there was an obsidian sculpture in the ground. It was very grassy, but it was also quiet. There was no wind, no birds. Even the stone building on the other side seemed derelict.

"Where are we now?" Kairi asked.

"I honestly don't know. Let's go."

As soon as the stepped in the crater, four Large Body Heartless appeared, pounding their chests. Ariana was glad it was only those four. It could've been worse. _No! Stop thinking that!_

_Moonlit Shadow_ appeared in her grasp. How was she going to fight _and_ protect Kairi?

The redhead had other ideas, though. She summoned a ball of fire and flung it at one of the Large Bodies. It only flinched, but Kairi looked pleased. She'd most likely been learning from Aerith and Merlin, both of which were very proficient in magic.

Ariana turned her attention to another Heartless that was sneaking up behind Kairi. She struck it with a quick **Glacius** and dashed around to its back, where the armor was thin. She struck it four times before it disappeared into mist. She then turned her attention to another Large Body.

She approached it, but it punched her in the stomach before she could do anything. She hunched over and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Merlin, that hurt… She was winded from the blow, and her stomach was aching.

"_Blizzard_!" The Large Body before her froze on the spot. Kairi had frozen it. She did the same to the remaining one. Both exploded into mist.

"Ari, are you okay?" she asked. The brunette nodded as she still held her sides. "You don't look okay to me. Do you need a potion?" Ariana hesitated before nodding. Kairi swiftly pulled a potion from her pocket and handed it to Ari, who gulped it. She winced at the taste before she finally straightened.

"I never knew you could use magic," Ari rasped. Her stomach still ached from being winded, but at least she could speak again.

"Neither did I until Aerith taught me. She told me that I need an outlet to use, whatever that is."

"I think she meant something like a wand or staff."

* * *

Sora was standing in a cave again. It was almost identical to all of the others he'd stood in. For the past few hours, he, Donald, Goofy, and Albus had been traversing duplicates of sections of the worlds he had ever visited: Traverse Town, Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah, Atlantica, Halloween Town, and Neverland.

Sora gazed at the orange pillar of light before him. Because it was orange, he guessed it would be the last world. He was about to touch the light when he heard two girls call his name. He turned. Behind him were none other than Ari… and Kairi? And why was she carrying a small staff?

"Kairi, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Kairi put her hands behind her back. "Ansem _kind of_ kidnapped me not that long ago."

"_What_?! He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No! We're just fine."

"And what's with the staff?"

"Oh, a Wizard Heartless dropped it in one of the worlds we went to."

Sora arched a brow. He'd never heard of a Heartless like that before. "What's a Wizard Heartless?"

"They look like they wear pink robes, and they have purple witch hats. They carry staffs, and they shoot magic out of them." She waved her hands around.

"What worlds did you go to?" Kairi made it sound like there was other worlds see asides from the ones he'd journeyed through.

"There was one that was like a giant, grassy crater. Around the edge of the crater was something like a spiral ramp. The next one was a misty village with a ton of canals. Then we went through a place that was like a space ship. You know, we actually met someone there. He called himself Captain Jack Harkness."

That was weird. Sora hadn't met anyone on his visits through those fake worlds. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't come with us. The next one, it was night, and we were near a beautiful waterfall in a forest. After that was a city with huge trees everywhere. I never thought I would see so many trees in a city! Then we were in what looked like a room filled with toys made for giants. And then the last one was a mansion with tons of technology that I'd never seen before. It was so amazing!"

Sora glanced at Ariana and Albus, who were embracing warmly. Those two seemed inseparable on a normal day. Now, they were almost joined at the hip. They finally broke apart, only for Donald and Goofy to pull Ari into a group hug.

And then a sudden thought struck him. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked. She was hurt. Surely Sora wanted to see her?

"I mean, why did Ansem take you?" Oh. That was _definitely_ better than the alternative she was thinking about.

Ariana made her way over. "It's because of how Kingdom Hearts can be opened. It needs the touches of a Princess of Magic, a Princess of Heart, and a Keyblade Master."

"It's all about Kingdom Hearts, isn't it?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Ari answered. She smiled. "I wonder if we'll ever get a break."

"Are we ready for this?" Kairi pondered. She faced the orange light.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Albus said.

"Let's beat this Ansem feller!" Goofy proclaimed. He brandished his shield. It seemed to glow in the light.

"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "He can't beat us!" His staff was held high above his head.

Ariana smiled wider. She could never have asked for better friends.

* * *

**A/N: And finished!**

**Okay, I want you to guess which worlds Kairi and Ari went through. One of them was a dead giveaway if you know the show.**

**Oh, did anyone see the fall finale of Doctor Who? I cried. Twice. No other episode has made me do that. Aw, it was so good and sad.**

**God Bless!**


	20. The Final Stretch

**Here we go. The next to last chapter. I probably won't post any notes in that one, so I'll go ahead and say thank you to all of you who've been reading and reviewing and sticking with me. I know it's been a long two years (and possibly longer, depending on when I get the last chapter out). But thank you all!**

**I don't own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty: The Final Stretch

As soon as Kairi touched that golden-orange light, she felt a huge change. It was suddenly colder, and it felt as if the air was pressing against her. It didn't help that the next room (it seemed more like a corridor) was so dark, that she couldn't see the other end or the ceiling.

The Darkness seemed to writhe. Six identical figures emerged from it. They were navy blue in color and were demonic. Pointy horns sprouted from their heads. A tiny pair of wings kept them floating. They each held a club-like, blue sword. In the darkness of the hall, their yellow eyes were the only things that identified them.

Kairi stood by Donald as both hurled balls of fire at the Invisibles. The duck's spells made them explode on impact while the redhead only slowed them down. That was fine by her. She didn't want to be a nuisance, and having a staff to use for spells helped.

Albus and Ariana stood side by side. Rainbows of color exploded from their weapons of choice and blasted the Invisibles away. As one, they leapt apart, Ari to get close to the remaining three. Albus backed towards Kairi and Donald.

Sora and Goofy stood back to back until Sora dashed forward. _Oathkeeper_ was a blur of white and blue as he swung at the Invisible, which floated back and took a powerful swipe at his ribs. Sora backed away, but the sword grazed his jacket. Another Invisible caught his back. Sora turned and slashed at it. The Heartless stumbled into its brethren.

Somehow, he found himself next to Ariana, who handed him a Potion. She spun stepped around an Invisible and caught its wing with _Moonlit Shadow_. She flung it into a wall. The remaining three were grouped together. Goofy charged into them. Ariana smirked. It reminded her of a Muggle game, bowling. The Heartless disappeared.

Sora straightened and turned to Kairi. "That was great! I never knew you could use magic!" She was definitely a fast learner if she'd already mastered Fire.

Kairi blushed as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Well, I wanted to learn magic so that I wouldn't get in your way."

"Oh." Sora ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't _really_ meant to say that she would get in his way. It had sort of – just – slipped out. Now that they were together again, he could teach her magic! Of course, Donald would be better, but he would _never_ admit that. As a matter of fact, he rather _liked_ the idea of teaching her.

"What's this?" Goofy asked.

Sora tore his gaze from Kairi. He followed Goofy's finger. In the middle of the wall stood a tall set of blue doors lined with gold. Goofy stepped forward and opened them.

Ariana followed him. This room was almost as long, but narrower than, the corridor. Right in front of her was a colossal computer. There were at least ten different screens of varying sizes. All except one were blank.

She leaned forward. There were words on it.

_One born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts,_

_Ravage all worlds and bring desolation._

_Seize all Hearts and consummate the great heart._

_All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all._

_Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts._

_The great darkness, sealed within the great heart._

_Progeny of darkness, come back to eternal darkness_

_For the heart of light shall unseal the path_

_Eight hearts, one keyhole, one key to the door._

_The door of darkness, tied by three keys_

_The door to darkness to seal the light_

_None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness_

_Ones born of the Heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens._

Ariana read and reread the words. It was almost like reading Greek. From what she could gather, this was about Heartless, Kingdom Hearts, and a great Darkness tied to both. Kingdom Hearts was a given. The bit about eight hearts was familiar, as she had been used for what Maleficent had attempted.

And then there was "three keys". She guessed this was where she, Sora, and Kairi fit into the opening of the door. But wait; hadn't Ansem said something about Darkness? So he was the fourth key! Nah, that didn't really sound right. _So, that's one idea tossed…_

"This _really_ makes me wish Charlotte was here," Albus muttered. He ran a hand through his messy hair. Ariana smiled.

"Who's Charlotte?" Donald asked.

"She's a friend of ours," Ariana explained. "She's an _amazing_ puzzle solver.

"We really need someone like her for this," the duck mumbled. He gazed at the screen and scratched his head.

"Maybe we should move on," Kairi suggested.

As no one had any objections, they did just that. Sora led the way out and down the corridor, which led into darkness. The next thing he knew, he was flying.

All was dark around him. It was difficult to tell if the space was cavernous or cramped. Sora turned. His friends floated behind him. Kairi was pirouetting in the air. Ariana and Albus looked unsure, and the former wobbled.

"Where did you learn to fly, Kairi?" Goofy asked.

"From Sora, when our hearts were one."

"Okay," Ari said. "Maybe you can teach _us_ to fly."

Sora laughed. He remembered when, in Neverland, Tinkerbell and Peter Pan had taught himself, Donald, Goofy, Hazel, and Orion to soar through the skies. When Sora learned, it was when Captain Hook had forced him to walk the plank. It was also after Ariana had left…

"It's like this, Ari," Goofy instructed as he grasped her hand. Albus watched and copied their movements.

The dark-haired boy turned and narrowed his eyes. "What's that?" Albus pondered. He pointed at something. Sora followed his finger. In the distance, he could see a colossal lump. As he watched, the lump seemed to grow. _That's not right…_ The lump became a figure, a figure more gargantuan than any other he'd seen. He felt his insides freeze. He was sure his eyes were wide as plates.

The lump changed from a lump to something akin to a gargoyle with pale, unforgiving eyes. Wings unfurled from its back. This was Chernabog. Sora gaped at the sheer size of it. Chernabog roared, and fired streamed from its mouth.

**[Cue Music: A Night on Bald Mountain (3D version)]**

There was no way around it. They were going to have to charge it, which is exactly what Sora did. Ariana followed a bit slower. She watched Chernabog. It held its hands together. Something was forming. It raised its hands. A ball of fire sailed towards Sora. Ariana aimed her Keyblade at it. "**Glacius**!" The ice hit the fire, and steam billowed from it.

The steam rolled across the whole landscape. All Ariana could see was the impenetrable white. She couldn't see where anyone was. She held her Keyblade aloft. "**Lumos**," she whispered. Ariana strained her eyes.

There was a glowing light looming closer. Maybe it was Albus! Wait, that light was too orange for it to be a light spell. No. It was fire. She couldn't move. The fire hit her.

Everything was burning. Her left arm hung limply at her side. The pain was unbearable. She glanced at her hand. The skin was red and raw. Her arm was worse. She had to look away. She took _Moonlit Shadow_ in her right hand. There was no way she'd be able to fight right-handed.

She would have to. She floated behind Chernabog and fired spells at its head. Ariana didn't think she'd be able to wield the Keyblade. No, it was too much trouble. She'd have to use a Hi-Potion. She grabbed one from her pocket and downed it. She smacked her lips at the bitter taste and watched as the green light surrounded her hand and arm. The skin turned pink. She tested _Moonlit Shadow's_ weight in her hand. The appendage still stung, but she could manage.

She really _had _to learn a healing spell.

Ariana turned her attention to Chernabog. The steam had faded. She could now see Sora and Goofy hovering behind the gargantuan head. They struck and bashed as hard as they could. The monster hardly flinched. Albus, Kairi, and Donald were scattered in the air, each of them casting various spells at Chernabog.

She would assist Sora and Goofy. She glided shakily to where they floated. As she neared them, Chernabog bent forward. Could it already be defeated?

No. Ariana looked down. Chernabog was standing in a volcano. Red light gathered around the edges. It was going to erupt! "Get back!" she shouted at Sora and Goofy. They glanced at her and then at the volcano. They glided backwards. Ari turned and flew towards them.

_BOOM!_

She could feel the explosion shake her to the core. She flinched at the deafening crash. Her ears were ringing. She could feel her back slicken with sweat. She glanced back at the blazing inferno swirling around the gargoyle.

The firestorm ebbed, leaving Chernabog standing as tall as ever. Ariana glided back towards it. She struck at the back of its head as hard as she could. Finally, after one last fire spell from Albus, Chernabog vanished in an enormous cloud of Darkness.

**[End Music]**

The sky fell silent. Ariana relaxed. Albus unsteadily floated towards her. His black hair was lightly singed, and there were slight burns on his arms, but his hazel eyes held determination. He was a true Gryffindor, through and through. Ari sure hadn't been _that_ brave her first few hours alone.

Kairi descended into the volcano. The fiery red glow of the lava had faded. "Guys! There's an opening here!" Sora quickly followed her to the base. Sure enough, there was a white portal carved into one of the walls. Sora landed and leaned against a crevice. The others soon did the same.

"We need to rest a bit," Albus mumbled. Kairi nodded. Fighting Heartless was so _tough_! Sure, she'd witnessed many fights with the Darkness, but she'd seen them through Sora's eyes. It was very different from fighting them for herself.

_I've gotten this far already. I won't back down! I can't!_ Kairi's eyelids drooped. She blinked. The feeling didn't go away. It seemed like the day's excitement was finally taking its toll. She didn't want to sleep yet. Most of the others had fallen asleep.

Her mouth stretched open in a huge yawn. Sleep was a good idea. Kairi leaned her head against the rock and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she drifted into a dream.

She never noticed Sora's bright blue eyes watching her. He watched her chest rise and fall with each soft breath. Some of her auburn hair fell into her eyes. A small smile rested on her lips. He tore his gaze from her and glanced at each of his friends in turn.

Albus, while new to the group, had become a fast friend. Sora could tell that he liked jokes and a good laugh, but that changed when one of his loved ones was in danger.

Sora really hadn't liked Donald at the start. The duck was bossy, loud, kind of hard to understand at times, and one of the most stubborn people he'd ever met. But then he learned that Donald had always had a strange way of looking out for people, and was determined and firm in his ways for that reason.

Goofy was one of the most kind-hearted people Sora knew. Leaving friends behind was the last thing on the dog's mind, and harshness was non-existent. Goofy had always looked out for him when he first joined the group, and then Ariana when she met them.

His gaze turned to the brunette girl, who still sat awake. She gazed at her Keyblade. Her green eyes were laced with worry. Sora scooted towards her. "Hey," he whispered. "What's wrong?"

Ariana was silent for a moment before she sighed. "What if Ansem wins? What if we can't do this?"

Sora gazed at her in shock. She was _never_ a downer! So, why did she doubt now? "What's really wrong?"

Ariana glanced away before meeting his eyes again. "I'm serious! What if we _can't_?"

**[Cue Music: Gate of Time (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)]**

He looked away. That was something hard to answer. What could he say? The light from the portal shone in his eyes. That was it, the light… "I've learned that there's a light that shines in the worst Darkness, and it'll never go out. Even if it looks like Ansem'll win, there'll always be a light." Sora noticed Ariana's eyes ease a little. "We were chosen by the Keyblade for a reason. I've been wondering for a long time why. Maybe this is it. Maybe we were chosen to stop Ansem."

She sighed before a small smile formed on her lips. "I guess you're right. And you have so many people counting on you."

Sora scoffed. He cast his thoughts back to all of their adventures, all of the people that they'd met together. "C'mon, they're counting on you, too. You're as much a part of this as I am."

"I guess so, since you dragged me into this."

"Hey! You were the one that wanted to come with us!"

Ari giggled. She would definitely miss moments like these when all was said and done. No. She couldn't think like that. They would see each other again, of that, she was sure. "Thanks, Sora. I don't think I'd be able to go it alone."

"I wouldn't either. So long as our hearts are connected to our friends, then nothing will stand against us."

"Our hearts are connected…"

**[End music]**

* * *

Several hours later, Donald sat up and stretched. It really wasn't the best sleep he'd ever had, but it was enough. All the others were still asleep. Goofy snored so loudly he was surprised pebbles didn't fall from the ceiling. How anyone could sleep through _that_ was beyond him. Donald decided to leave the dog for last, as he would be the hardest to rouse.

Albus was the next to awaken, then Ariana. Donald turned to Sora and Kairi. He almost smiled but held it back. Some time during the night, the brunette had gotten closer to Kairi and laid his arm across her shoulders. Her head leaned against his. Though he was loath to wake them, it had to be done.

Sooner or later, they gathered around the portal. They all snacked on granola bars. "I wonder what's on the other side," Ariana pondered. She took another bite.

"Who knows?" Albus answered her. He chomped on his breakfast.

"Whatever it is, we can stand against it, no matter what," Goofy decided. "I know it!"

Sora smiled and stepped forward. "So long as we believe in each other, no amount of Darkness can stop us!" A sudden voice stopped him. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?" Donald asked.

"Don't you hear it?"

"I heard it, too," Ari muttered. She glanced at the rough walls of the mountain.

_Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all._ Ariana felt warmth rise within her. She recognized the voice. It was the same one that was in her dream. This voice was so… young and so familiar. Whose was it? The voice echoed again. _Remember, you are the ones that will open the door to the light._

Donald crossed his arms – er – wings. "I don't hear anything."

"Strange…" Sora muttered. "That voice was so familiar." He shook his head. "Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Then why could I hear it?" Ariana pondered.

"Maybe we all need some more rest time," Kairi suggested. Her purple-blue eyes held concern for her friend.

"No," Sora decided. "We can't turn back now." He stepped through the portal.

Everything was a bleak white. Ariana's eyes couldn't penetrate it. The whiteness finally faded, revealing a cerulean sky. Towering clouds gathered at the horizon, all varying shades of white, silver, and blue. Below her feet was a layer of the lightest sand she had ever seen. It remained untainted by pollution. Aqua blue ocean water lapped at the shore.

There was no sound. No wind whispered through the towering palm trees. No sea gulls cawed, signaling their brethren. The small, wooden shack nestled against the cliff was silent. No boards creaked.

Sora and Kairi gazed around them. Ari could see doubt in their eyes. "Is this…" Sora trailed off.

"The island…" Kairi finished.

Ariana understood. This was a remnant of their home world, Destiny islands. It was a beautiful world, albeit a little eerie. The lack of sound was disconcerting.

Sora turned. He was looking for something. "What happened to the waterfall?" Sure enough, there was a hollow in the ground, as if water once flowed there.

"This world has been connected," a voice echoed. Ariana tensed. Her left hand was out to her side.

"What was that?" Goofy gasped.

Ari turned. A tiny island just offshore vanished.

"Tied to the Darkness…" A tree house followed the island, "soon to be completely eclipsed." The sea turned black. "You understand so little. A meaningless effort." It was Ansem!

The ground started to shake.

"One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

Dark purple, leaf-like growths sprouted from the cliff side. The ground at the shore split, revealing fissures of Darkness. A lone figure stood at the shore, his back turned to them. Ariana immediately recognized the sliver hair and the dark outfit.

"Riku!" Kairi cried. She dashed to him. Ariana followed her. She didn't have a good feeling about this…

"Take a look at this tiny place," Riku said, except it wasn't his voice. This voice was much deeper. It was Ansem's. "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to cross into other worlds. And he opened his heart to the Darkness." "Riku" turned. As he did so, his from changed until he took the appearance of Ansem.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. His friend was right there! He was so close!

Ansem smirked, a gleam in his orange eyes. "Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to the Darkness." Again? What was he playing at? "All worlds begin in Darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature." Ansem faded from sight. "In the end, every heart returns to the Darkness whence it came!" Ansem floated just behind Sora. "You see, Darkness is the heart's true essence."

"Liar!" Ariana shouted. No! There was no way this was true!

"The heart may be weak," Sora continued. Defiance burned in his blue eyes. "And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

A monster sprouted from Ansem's back. It was almost pitch-black in color and almost eight feet high and muscled beyond belief. Long, crooked antennae sprouted from its head, and it's pale yellow eyes contrasted greatly with the blackness of its skin. Two bandages crossed over its head and over its mouth, which showed sharp, white teeth.

Ariana only had a few seconds to stare before an arm reached out. The next thing she knew, Sora's feet had left the ground. The monster's hand was wrapped around his neck! Sora's hands flew to the its grip.

**[Cue Music: Shaded Truths (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)]**

"Sora!" the remaining five cried. _Moonlit Shadow_ appeared in Ariana's grasp. She sprang forward. A scream tore from her lips.

Ansem's monster hurled a blast of Darkness. It struck her chest. Her eyes widened before sliding closed. Her heart throbbed. It hurt so much! Even Chernabog's fire didn't hurt as much! Oh Merlin! _Make it stop! Make it stop!_ Darkness gathered at the edge of her vision. She couldn't tell if she was falling unconscious or falling through a Dark Corridor.

She could feel herself shaking violently. Her palms were soaked in sweat. _Make the Darkness go away!_

* * *

Kairi gaped at the sight before her. Ansem floated just above the ground, his guardian now before him. Sora was no longer struggling in its right hand. He must have passed out! Ariana writhed in the Guardian's other hand. Ansem summoned a Dark Corridor, and the Guardian threw them inside.

No!

They couldn't be gone!

Albus and Donald fired spell after spell, but nothing seemed to work.

Kairi had never felt so helpless when Ansem turned to her. Her staff fell to the ground. Her hands were so slack.

"**Confringo!**"

Ansem and his monster Guardian were blasted back into the cliff side. His Dark Corridor vanished. Kairi turned to see Albus standing behind her. His wand was aimed at the Lord of Darkness.

"Give them back," Albus muttered. His voice was as cold as ice. "_Give them back!_"

Ansem smirked. "Yes. Give in to your anger!"

"Stop!" Kairi cried. "I won't let you take anyone else!" She bent down and picked up her staff and grasped it firmly. She narrowed her blue eyes. Her thoughts flashed to Sora. _He needs me!_ She turned to Albus, Donald, and Goofy.

"C'mon. Let's go save Sora and Ari."

* * *

**A/N: Finally! It's finished.**

**Again, I want to thank you all! Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate! May it be a good one!**

**God bless!**


	21. The Lord of Darkness

Chapter Twenty-One: The Lord of Darkness

Sora opened his eyes. There was an ache in his chest that wouldn't go away. That might've been because he was laying on his front. With a great effort, he rolled onto his back and sat up.

Where was he? Why was he alone?

The memories flooded his mind. Destiny Islands, Ansem, and then the burning in his chest. He could still feel Ansem's Guardian's grip around his neck. His hands felt for any remnants. He couldn't feel any. Sora let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

He glanced around at his surroundings. He was in an orchard that seemed to be used as some kind of playing field. On one side were three long posts of varying height. The middle was the tallest. At the top of each pole was a large, round ring. They reminded Sora of giant bubble blowers.

At the other end of the field was a trail leading down to a house that was three times taller than it was wide. It had to have at least five stories and seemed to be held together by magic. It was so lopsided.

It seemed like it would normally be a cheerful place, but there was no sound. The leaves didn't rustle. No birds chirped. Even the house, which looked as if it were normally abundant in noises, was silent. It was eerie.

"It's the Burrow!"

Sora jumped at the whispered exclaim. He turned. Ariana stood behind him. At a closer look, he noticed she was paler than usual, and her face was slick with sweat. She took deep, shuddering breaths. Her whole body shook.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He approached her.

Ariana's wide eyes turned to him. "Are _you_ okay? You have bruises on your neck!"

Sora once again put his fingers to his neck. His skin was tender. He took in his surroundings once more. "Where are we?"

"This is Grandma and Granddad Weasley's house. It's my world…"

* * *

**[Cue Music: Forze de Mal: Kingdom Hearts]**

Kairi panted heavily. She wiped her brow. It was slick with sweat and blood. But in her moment of hesitation, Ansem's Guardian grazed her arm before she could jump out of its range. Her wounds glowed a bright green before they scabbed over. They looked several days old. She silently thanked Donald for the healing spell.

She retreated a few paces and loosed another _Fire_ spell. Ansem floated out of the way and straight into Goofy's shield. Goofy managed a couple of hits before the Guardian knocked him into the cliff side. He slid to the ground and rubbed his head. Goofy winced as he found the knot forming there. He stood and threw the shield again at Ansem.

Albus dashed around on the shore as he fired yet another binding spell. This one hit the Guardian, who reappeared above the young wizard. A shower of Darkness fell about them both. It vanished, leaving Albus standing alone. But the next thing he knew, a dark purple orb swam in his vision. Everything turned red. His limbs felt like lead.

He ran, trying to get away. Ansem's Guardian blocked his path. One of those enormous hands gripped his shoulder. He could feel his life fading away.

"_Thundaga!_"

Lightning rained from the sky and blasted the Guardian away. The sand turned back to white. The reddish tinges were gone. Albus doubled over. His muscles felt strained. His breath came in short gasps. He pulled a Potion from his pocket and downed it. Already, he could feel his strength returning.

Kairi couldn't see. White spots filled her vision. Donald's _Thunder_ spell had blinded her. Something large and dark crossed into her vision. She yelped and swung her staff. Something connected. Hard. The spots started to clear. Kairi gasped. She had hit the _Guardian_!

"Guard!" Ansem shouted. The Guardian teleported back to the Heartless' side and blocked Goofy's next shield bash. What Ansem didn't notice was that Albus crept along the shore towards him. He was too busy blocking magic and physical attacks.

Albus had no idea where the plan came from. Nor did he care. All he knew was that he had to enact that plan before he could be stopped. Finally, he stood just behind the silver-haired man, who let bolts of Darkness loose at Goofy. Albus took a deep breath, raised his want, and cast the spell. "**Incendio!**"

Bluebell flames sparked at the tips of Ansem's long hair. Soon, his whole head was aflame. The Heartless roared and drew the Darkness towards him like a barrier. Goofy was too close. He was blasted backwards into a palm tree. He didn't move. Albus only managed to back away in time. His foot slipped on wet sand. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back in the ocean.

Kairi tried to approach her downed friends, but Donald raised his wing to stop her. "_Aeroga!_" Donald chanted. Winds gathered around the duck, forming a barrier. Donald easily weaved between the Guardian's attacks. Ansem floated just before him. They locked eyes. Donald raised his staff and blasted the Heartless with an enormous shard of ice. Ansem fell to the ground.

Albus shook the salty water from his hair. It was then he noticed Ansem struggling to stand. The young wizard hopped to his feet and jumped on Ansem's back. The silver-haired man would pay for taking away his cousin! And with that, he wrapped his arms around Ansem's neck.

He could feel his strength fading. The Guardian had latched onto him again. His arms were like dead weights. He could feel his grip slacking.

Kairi's frantic form entered his vision. Blearily, he watched her raise her staff. Showers of orange sparks danced above him. An angry roar screamed in his ears. Albus realized what it was. Kairi had cast _Fira_ on the Guardian.

Albus stumbled off of Ansem. He watched as Donald healed Goofy on his way towards Kairi. Soon, the dog reached their semi-circle. Ansem had nowhere to go. The ocean was behind him. The quartet surrounded him.

Donald waved his staff. "_Thundaga!_" Bolts of lightning rained down. Before any could connect, Ansem vanished in a portal of Darkness. The portal remained.

**[End Music]**

"It's almost like he _wants_ us to follow him," Albus murmured. He pushed himself to his feet. Kairi made her way to his side and helped him stand. Donald handed him an ether, which he gratefully accepted.

"Shouldn't we follow him?" Kairi proposed. "Sora and Ari might be just through there."

"I don't think we should do that," Donald objected as he rubbed a burn on his wing. He cast a quick healing spell.

"Yeah," Goofy agreed. He nursed a bump on his head. "We need a little rest first."

Kairi sighed in frustration. What if Sora was hurt? She tried to reassure herself that he was okay, that Ariana had more Potions. Then she remembered: Ariana had been hurt, too.

* * *

Ariana had just finished explaining about the Burrow. She couldn't look away from it. Sure, it had been about three weeks since she'd last seen it. She'd gone months before without seeing it. That didn't stop the lone tear from trailing her cheek.

There was a _whoosh_ of a Dark Corridor. A portal opened before Sora and Ariana. It closed just as fast as it had appeared. Ansem knelt there. His clothes were torn. Black blood seeped from the wounds. His silver hair was badly singed in places.

"Insolent fools," he whispered. "They know nothing of the heart's essence… Why do you hate the Darkness?"

"We don't hate the Darkness," Ariana answered.

"It's who's lurking inside it," Sora finished.

Ansem gathered himself up and stood. Darkness flowed from his wounds. The Guardian erupted from his back in a flash of navy blue. It growled at the brunettes. That could only mean one thing: Ansem was ready for a fight.

**[Cue music: Dismiss: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep]**

Sora wasted no time in summoning _Oathkeeper_ and sprinting at the dark-skinned Heartless. _Moonlit Shadow_ appeared in Ariana's grasp. She was only a few paces behind Sora. Ansem swiped his hands through the air. Bows of Darkness sailed toward them. Sora easily maneuvered around them. Ariana slowed and blocked.

Sora swung _Oathkeeper_ once he reached Ansem. The Guardian twisted around its master and blocked the oncoming blow. Sora spun from the recoil and locked eyes with Ariana. They stared, blue eyes and green, before nodding. Sora sidestepped to the left. He watched Ari sneak around behind the Heartless man. "**Stupefy!**" A blast of red light knocked Ansem out of the air.

The Guardian floated protectively over the silver-haired man. It brought its hands together. It curled in on itself before throwing its fists out and baring its chest. A surge of wind howled through the trees. Ariana suddenly found herself flying.

The brunette girl landed near the trees. The Guardian loomed before her. She backed away on her hands and feet, closer to the trees. Maybe she could escape from Ansem in them! Wait, that would leave Sora alone with him. She couldn't do that to her friend.

In her moments of distraction, the Guardian reared back its fist, Darkness clouding around it. It thrust forward, a beam of Darkness shooting straight at Ariana.

"_Aero!_"

Ari gasped as wind tousled her hair. The air swirled around her, almost like a barrier. The Darkness curled around her and hit the trees. Ariana silently thanked Sora for the spell.

Sora strafed to the right as Ansem glided closer. The Heartless seemed rather miffed at the brunette's assistance of Ariana. Ansem raised his hand, blue sparks dancing between his fingers. Dark blue lightning rained down around Sora, who strafed to the right. Suddenly, he was flying. Sora landed on his side. He pulled at his foot. It was stuck! He glanced down. It was caught in a tree root. A bolt of lightning struck his arm. He grabbed it. It felt like it was on fire. It turned limp. He couldn't move it.

Ariana ducked around the Guardian as it swiped at her. She sent a blast of _Fire_ at it, which burned the Guardian's arm. It roared in anger and lashed at the brunette. Ariana backed away but not before it grazed her arm. She gasped and clutched it. Blood oozed from it. She lifted her other hand. Mixed with the dark red was a deep purple. Her legs wobbled. Those cuts must have been infused with Darkness.

Ariana hefted her Keyblade. "**Lumos!**" Bright yellow light erupted from the crescent moon teeth. The Guardian screeched and floated back. Ariana saw Ansem glance at them.

"Come, Guardian!" he commanded. The black monster instantly obeyed. The dark duo glowed purple. The next thing Ari knew, they zoomed towards her. She strafed to the left. They missed by inches. They turned and homed in on her. She couldn't move. They charged straight into her. She was flying. She rolled as she hit the ground.

Blearily, Ariana raised her head. She watched through fuzzy eyes as Sora threw _Oathkeeper_ in repeated Strike Raids at Ansem. When it was over, she saw him double over on the ground.

_Get up!_ Ariana screamed at herself. Ansem wasn't finished yet. She pushed herself up ever so slowly. She had to help! She picked up her dropped Keyblade. Ariana let out a scream before sprinting towards Ansem. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sora do the same. Ansem hunched before them. Their Keyblades clashed and struck the Heartless.

**[End Music]**

Ansem vanished in a cloud of black. A Corridor of Darkness remained. Ariana could hear voices emanating from it. They were so familiar. A figure emerged from the Dark Corridor. It was Donald!

"Donald!" Ariana cried. She smiled.

The duck padded towards her and summoned his staff. What was he up to? Once he reached her, he reared back and hit her shoulder. Hard. Ariana grasped her shoulder.

"Oy!" she yelped. "What was that for?"

"Don't you do that again!"

Sora slowly backed away. Donald simply blasted him with _Thunder_.

"Gawrsh, Donald," Goofy said as he approached the duck, "maybe we should go easier on them."

"Yeah, Donald," Sora agreed. He rubbed his head. "Geez…"

"Just don't scare us like that again," Kairi scolded. Her hands were on her hips. Sora ran a hand through his hair. Then he noticed that she was pale.

"Wait, what happened to you guys?" he pondered.

"After you vanished, we fought Ansem," Albus answered. Sora took a closer look. The quartet each sported ripped and bloodied clothing. Some of Donald's feathers were singed.

"We fought him, too," Ariana commented. She had her left hand clamped over her right bicep. The purple t-shirt sleeve that was pushed to her shoulder was stained with red.

Albus took notice and pried her hand away. Sora stepped closer. He gasped. Ariana had three long scratches, none of which were deep, but each was tinged with deep purple. "What happened?" Albus asked.

"The Guardian scratched me," Ariana answered. Donald approached and studied the wound.

"It was infected by Darkness," the duck observed. "Sora's had enough of those in the past. We could get to Aerith to heal them for us."

"Why only Aerith?" Kairi questioned.

"She cured with light magic," Goofy said.

"Light, huh?" Kairi approached Ariana and rested her hand over the wound. The redhead's hand glowed gold as she took a deep breath. When she took her hand away, the wound was still there, but the purple tint was gone. Donald closed it with a simple healing spell.

"I still have a lot to learn…" Albus commented. Ariana chuckled.

"Welcome to my world."

A half hour later found them standing before the Dark Corridor. The sextet each bore torn clothes but determination in their eyes. Finally, Sora took the first step, Kairi only half a pace behind. Ariana followed and allowed the darkness to swallow her.

She heard the others walking around her. She couldn't see. She suppressed a shudder. It wasn't long before something appeared in the distance. It was a pair of pale gray double doors surrounded by dull gray stones.

"Wha-?" Sora started.

"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem declared. "Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts! Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light." As much as she never wanted to admit, Ansem was right. Darkness seemed to gather around the doors to Kingdom Hearts. Ariana kept hearing about the power of Kingdom Hearts. Was this all it was? Darkness?

"From the dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours."

Where was Ansem? Ariana couldn't tell. His voice echoed from everywhere. She heard Sora gasp. She soon knew why. Floating beneath them was a monster of a Heartless. The pink behemoth was larger than even Captain Hook's ship. At the prow was an enormous, monstrous face. As Ariana took in the blue-decked ship, she finally located Ansem. The shirtless man now seemed twice his original size, and his legs were pitch black and fused with the ship. The Guardian's enormous form, this time with horns and a fiercer snarl, floated behind Ansem.

**[Cue music: Guardando Nel Buio: Kingdom Hearts]**

Ariana's heart leapt to her throat. Her hair whipped around her. She was falling. They were all falling. No, she was going backwards. She glanced back. A hole of green was nearing her. Wait, she was closing in on it. The portal was pulling Donald, Goofy, Albus, and herself to it. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Sora and Kairi fell into the dark abyss before everything turned black.

* * *

_Can it really end this way?_ Sora asked himself. He was falling. His other friends had been sucked away by a portal. He was on his own.

_Giving up already? I thought you were stronger than that, Sora!_

_Riku?_

There was a soft whimper. Sora looked to his left. Kairi free-fell, her face paper white and her eyes fearful. No. There was no way he'd let Kairi be afraid around him.

The next thing he knew, golden sparks danced around him, Kairi secure in his arms. He was flying. "Kairi, I'm gonna let you off on the ship, okay?"

"Why? Would I get in your way?"

"Uh…" He _really_ regretted those words.

"I want you to see that I _won't_ get in your way. Let me go?"

Sora sighed. "Fine." He carefully let go of Kairi who floated by his side.

Sora glided towards Ansem. The giant Heartless twirled his double-ended spear. Sora flipped over it. Why did it look so familiar? He caught sight of one of the tips. It was shaped as a bat's wing. It was shaped as Riku's sword!

The brunette felt hot, steaming fury bubble in his stomach. An enormous blast of fire blazed from the tip of _Oathkeeper_ and slammed into Ansem.

"Turn to Darkness!" the man roared before taking an enormous swipe at Sora.

"_Aero!_" Kairi called. A barrier of wind swirled around Sora. The spear slid of. Sora countered by a three strike chain before finishing with a blast of _Thundara_.

The Guardian released five scarlet orbs. Each released a laser. Sora curled around three and glided behind Ansem. Kairi pirouetted around the final two then hurled a chunk of ice. It crashed straight into Ansem's arm. He growled and swung the staff at Kairi. Sora floated before her and parried with his Keyblade. He chained another three strikes. Ansem guarded against the last one. The Guardian swiped at Sora with its long claws. Sora hissed as they scraped his left arm.

This was going to be much tougher than he thought.

* * *

Albus panted as he blasted another Shadow into oblivion. The Heartless just kept coming. He heard the swish of Goofy's shield as it sliced through a Darkball. Albus searched for the tell-tale yellow eyes. He supposed he should be lucky that the eyes glowed. There was very little light otherwise. The only light was from a pale blue Heartless emblem carved into the ground.

The wizard froze a Shadow in a block of ice and blasted it onto one of the small crowds. Each one was flattened as the block of ice shattered. Albus turned and set another one on fire. The flaming Shadow jumped at him, claws glinting. The green of Goofy's shield flashed in his eyes before careening into the Heartless, obliterating it.

"Goofy! Al!"

Albus turned at the sound of the voice. Sora swung the Keyblade, destroying the Heartless left and right. No more spawned.

Albus returned to blasting with increased vigor. Maybe they could finally escape! The raven-haired boy launched a leg-locker curse at a Shadow. Its knees locked together as it toppled over. Sora dashed over and destroyed it an all others Albus felled.

Finally, the last of the Heartless vanished. Sora's vision swam before the sight of the World of Chaos greeted him. Albus wobbled unsteadily beside him before gaining his balance. Sora understood what it was like to be standing and suddenly flying. It was jarring.

Kairi reappeared from another portal with Ariana and Donald in tow. That had been the plan. Destroy Ansem's ship as much as possible and free the others.

A roar in the distance sounded. Ariana glanced up. Ansem's mouth was open as a battle cry loosed from his lips. "Confused? Let me enlighten you!" More orbs of scarlet light floated from his hands. Lasers emitted from each. Sora spun around one but into another. He winced from the burn. He glided closer to Ansem and attacked as much as he could. The Guardian intercepted each of his strikes. He couldn't get around it. He quietly observed the others for a moment. None of them were getting a hit in either.

"This isn't working," Ariana observed. She called the others to her. "Why can't we hit him?"

"This is a ship, right?" Goofy asked. "Maybe there are weak spots that'll hurt him."

"That's a great idea, Goofy!" Donald praised,

"I think I see it!" Kairi exclaimed. She pointed at something on the blue deck of the ship: a purple, pulsating pustule with a thick vein that joined with Ansem. Ariana smiled. This was it!

The sextet glided to the bright blue ground. As soon as Ariana's feet touched the fleshy deck, pools of black bubbled. Black, veined heads emerged. Humanoid bodies followed. These Heartless stood as tall as Ariana, but unlike her, they had long, sharp claws instead of fingers and long antennae curving from the backs of their heads. These were the Neoshadows.

The eight Neoshadows charged the group. As one, Kairi and Ariana released a _Thunder_. Lightning rained around them, the Heartless as lightning rods. Sparks danced across their bodies. Sora and Goofy sprinted, Keyblade and shield ready, at the mass of black.

Sora tore _Oathkeeper_ through the stunned Neoshadows. One vanished in a cloud of black. A second lunged at him, claws first. He rolled around it and struck its back. A glint from Goofy's shield caught his eye before it slammed into the Neoshadow, which faded. Sora managed to catch sight of pitch black claws before they sliced into his shoulder. He grunted and spun, catching the Heartless with the teeth of the Keyblade and throwing it into the air. A blast of fire from Donald's staff destroyed it.

Ariana turned her attention to the vein after her initial blast of lightning. She sprinted around the mass of Heartless, Albus and Kairi on her heels. She stabbed the vein. Her Keyblade did little more than scratch it. Albus and Kairi each sent their own fire spells, bluebell blending with scarlet. Both only left light scorch marks. Ari jumped back and threw her Keyblade in a Strike Raid. It only traveled half as a far as Sora's. She instead tackled it with a **Stupefy**, Albus following with a **Confringo**.

Cavities opened in the ceiling above. Bolts of black fired from them. Ari edged around two but stepped into the line of a third. She hissed and clapped her hand to her side.

"**Protego!**" she heard Albus cry. A blue, translucent shield appeared around him. The black bolts were absorbed. Kairi merely weaved around them. She hurled a chunk of ice at the vein. Frost collected on it. She raised her staff and called a bolt of lightning on it.

Ariana stabbed the vein again. It exploded, forcing her into the waiting arms of a Neoshadow. She yelped as they bit into her arms. The sudden swish of a blade startled her. The pressure on her arms vanished. She fell to her knees.

"You okay, Ari?"

Ariana glanced up. Sora stood before her. He winced at the sight of the eight bloody scratches on her arms. "_Cura_," he whispered. Tendrils of green light wrapped around her as the wounds closed.

"I'll be fine," she said. She stood and turned to her friends. Each bore scratches, burns, and rings under their eyes. But each set held determination.

"This is it, then," Albus said.

"We can do this, guys!" Kairi declared. "Riku's counting on us!"

"And the king!" Donald added.

"And the rest of the worlds, too!" Goofy chimed.

Sora nodded and glided out, the quintet behind him. He halted once he came face-to-face with Ansem. The Heartless man sneered at him. The Guardian growled.

The dark monster raised its fists. Blue lightning arced from its fingers. Sora hissed when it struck his shin. He brought _Oathkeeper_ around in an attack. Ansem dodged around it but into Albus' blasting spell. Kairi appeared in the corner of Sora's eye. She spun her staff, a shard of ice sprouting from it. It sailed into Ansem's shoulder.

Ansem thrust his hands into the air. Ten scarlet orbs formed around them. More lasers. Great. Ariana blocked one with her Keyblade. The metal's temperature skyrocketed. It seared her hands. The scarlet beam faded. Ari soared forward, the Keyblade still burning, and struck Ansem with it. The man clutched his shoulder and glared at her but suddenly grinned.

Ariana's heart froze. What was he planning? Suddenly, wrenching pain lanced through her back. The next second, the Guardian loomed before her, its teeth bared in a fierce snarl. It brought its clawed hand, stained with blood, before its face. It was her blood. Ariana retaliated with a three strike chain. The Guardian howled. She watched as it faded away.

She turned back to Ansem. Her five other friends floated in a semicircle just out of reach of the spear. She quickly joined them. They glanced at each other before nodding. The sextet charged and attacked, but it was Sora who hit first.

**[End Music]**

Ansem stumbled and slumped over. His body sparked. Bright light enveloped him, no, the entire ship. It dissolved into orange light.

Ariana blinked. Ansem floated before them once again but back to his normal self.

"It is futile," Ansem muttered. "The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness. Now I have the pieces. Your efforts are useless." Ari's eye's widened. He was right! He could open the door! "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…" He reached for the tall pale gray doors.

An aura of black enveloped the dark man. Ariana glanced at her hands. They glowed bright purple. To her left and her right, Sora and Kairi glowed blue and soft gold.

_CREAK!_

The gray doors cracked open. Tendrils of black leaked from them.

"Supreme darkness…" Ansem said. A smile crept onto his face.

"You're wrong," Sora retaliated. What did he mean? Then it clicked: the pale gray doors, the Princesses of Heart, all mean light! "I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is light!"

The tendrils receded to be replaced by white light. Ansem shielded his eyes. "So bright… Why…?" The light enveloped his form. When it disappeared, nothing remained.

Sora raced to the doors and touched down. That was right! They had one left thing to do. The others followed.

"Come on!" Sora shouted as he shoved his weight against one door. Kairi and Albus stood to his right, both pushing as hard as they could. Ariana, Donald, and Goofy leaned against the other door.

The doors barely moved.

Goofy peered over Donald's head and into the gap. He yelped.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald reprimanded.

"Er, Donald," Ariana said. She, too, gazed past the door. The duck stopped pushing and glanced through. Pillars of black stretched every which-way she could imagine stretching into the distant whiteness. But she quickly took notice of glowing yellow eyes.

"The Heartless!" Donald squawked.

"Push harder!" Albus roared.

"I can't…" Sora murmured as he slid slightly down the door.

"Don't give up!" A gloved hand from inside curled around the door. Ariana beamed at the new arrival. It was Riku! He was okay! "Come on, Sora, Kairi! Together, we can do it!"

The two nodded. "Okay!"

"Riku," Ariana breathed. No! They couldn't seal him inside! The others were pushing on the doors. Even with Riku's help, they barely budged. Maybe he could still squeeze through.

"It's hopeless!" Donald cried, his wings at his head. The Heartless were too fast. They wouldn't make it!

_SWISH!_

The Heartless faded, leaving a golden light and a silhouette. It was oddly short with a circular head and equally round ears. Ariana could make out white gloves, red shorts, and enormous yellow shoes.

"Your Majesty!" she heard Donald and Goofy exclaim excitedly. So this was their beloved king.

The king suddenly drew a Keyblade seemed like a carbon copy of Sora's, except the blade was gold and the guard and hilt silver. "Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!"

**[Cue Music: Always on my Mind: Kingdom Hearts]**

"Close it, quick!" Donald encouraged.

"But…" Sora trailed off. Worry was evident in his eyes.

"They'll be okay, Sora," Kairi assured him. Her purple-blue eyes met his bright blue. He wanted so much to believe her.

"Don't worry," the king said. "There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy encouraged.

"I don't think their best friend would lie to you," Albus added.

"Quick!" Riku cried. "They're coming!"

Sora had no choice. Ariana nodded. She watched as King Mickey turned to his friends. "Donald, Goofy, thank you."

Ariana met Riku's eyes. He smiled warmly at her before turning to Sora. "Take care of her." The brunette nodded. Riku grinned at Kairi before the door completely cut their view.

Sora took a few steps back and summoned the _Kingdom Key_. He pointed it at the doors. He wasn't scared for Riku anymore. His friend was too stubborn to stay there. He'd find a way out with the king. The Keyblade glowed, and the doors shimmered away.

Sora sighed and hung his head. _It might take a while to find him again._ He felt a thin pair of arms wrap around him. He glanced down and caught sight of auburn hair. He smiled and returned Kairi's embrace. He rather liked this feeling.

Kairi eventually let go and took his hand in hers. They walked away from the group, towards the edge. "Sora, I-" The ground shook. Kairi stumbled, but Sora steadied her. Why was he further from her? He looked down at their feet. The ground was splitting, and Kairi was on the other side!

"Kairi," Sora said to her, "remember what I said before?" He didn't have much time before she was gone. "I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you! I promise!" They were only locked by their fingers.

"I know you will!" Just like that, their grip broke.

**[Cue Music: Hikari: Kingdom Hearts]**

As Kairi drifted further and further away, her piece of rock changed to sand and grew. A spark of light drifted down and landed on Kairi's clasped hands. She looked up. More drifted down, almost like stars. There was a flash of light from behind. Palm trees, tree houses, and a cliff side sprouted from the sand. Ocean water lapped at the shore. Silver stars, like comets, soared across the dark sky and settled in their original spots. Destiny Islands had returned.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted from his piece of land. She turned, but she didn't seem to hear him. "I'll come back! I promise! Kairi!" A blue mist shielded him. He couldn't see her anymore.

Ariana approached and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You'll go back."

"Of course. Once I find Riku. Hey, what about-"

_Crack!_

Not again! The ground split once again between Sora and Ariana. Albus carefully stepped across the trembling ground to her. "Sora, I don't want to say good-bye!"

"This isn't good-bye!" he answered. "We'll see each other again!"

Despite their continual separation, Ariana smiled. "You're right. Our hearts are connected!"

Trees erupted between them, all around them. The rock turned to grass. The sky brightened to a light blue. Fluffy clouds soared across the sky before slowing. Albus wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they turned. Before them, nestled near a hill, was the Burrow.

Ariana's heart leapt. A new smile crept onto her face.

"Ari! Al!" The duo turned at the voices. Standing behind them were Hazel and Orion. Ariana giggled as she ran to her siblings and embraced them. "You did it!" Hazel whispered.

"_We_ did it," Ariana corrected. She felt her eyes water. A hot tear rolled down her cheek. Joy overwhelmed her. Yes. That was the foremost emotion. Somehow, anticipation was there. What would her parents say to see her bloodied and bruised? Then there was sadness. She had lost five friends. She shook her head. She'd see them again.

Joy, happiness, anticipation, sadness.

What would you call it?

* * *

**A/N: After two and a half years, it's finally finished! Yes!**

**I wanted to thank all of you for bearing with me when it took months to update. Thank you for leaving reviews and favoriting and following. Oh, and thank you for voting on the poll. The results of the poll: Magic of the Keyblade is staying in the crossover section!**

**As of yet, it is undetermined when I will start posting the sequel, Brave Hearts.**

**God bless! People of Boston, of the Mississippi River Valley, and Texas, my thoughts and prayers are with you.**


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